Covert online betting portal busted by Indian police

The Indian police told the Indian Times this week that six persons arrested for illegal online betting were also experts in hacking various foreign websites and the e-mail identities of punters using them.

The Special Investigation Team of Chandigarh police headed by DSP (CID) Anil Joshi busted the cricket betting racket, which was being run through banned websites like ‘betlife.com’.

The police claim the accuseds were operating websites through pirate IP addresses that were not recognised by Indian filters. The portals updated with every ball, wicket and run rate of the match.

“Today the SIT has called in about 20 persons for verification and recording of statements,” the police spokesman said. “This was a close-knit network that had its roots in various parts of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

“Following interrogation, we have assembled evidence and will make more arrests. These bookies were running this racket from a website that is banned in India but legal in the UK. We were after this gang for the several weeks.”

Joshi revealed that police had seized a large quantity of money, mobile phones, SIM cards and an SUV.