Times News NetworkAhmedabad: An investigation into an online IPL betting racket busted in Ahmedabad has uncovered links to 542 cyberfraud complaints involving transactions worth Rs 324.8 crore, prompting the State Monitoring Cell (SMC) to widen its probe into a network of mule bank accounts allegedly used to route betting proceeds and suspected fraud money.Ten people have been arrested so far, said officials on Sunday.The case came to light after SMC officials raided a premises in Nikol and arrested a man named Vijay Karadani for allegedly operating an online cricket betting set-up during the IPL season.Police seized a tablet, three mobiles, a television set, a set-top box, electronic accessories, cash and a vehicle, with the total value of the seized property estimated at Rs 15.73 lakh.An FIR was registered against 47 accused individuals, including alleged kingpin Rajvirsinh and 46 customers, under provisions of the Gambling Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.The 10 arrested accused are: Aakash Nayak, Anil Kotak, Pratik Maradiya, Vijay Karadani, Ashvin Mendapara, Jay Kaneriya, Hiren Kathritiya, Navnit Khambala, Jay Aghera and Meet Kalariya.Police said the accused allegedly used bank accounts opened in the names of other individuals to process financial transactions linked to online cricket betting.These accounts, commonly known as mule accounts, were allegedly used to conceal the identities of those operating the network.During the investigation, police examined WhatsApp groups found on the mobile phones of the accused and recovered details of 2,188 bank accounts.Verification through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) revealed that 354 of these accounts had already been frozen by law enforcement agencies in different states.Police said the frozen accounts were linked to 542 cyberfraud complaints registered across the country.
