In what looked like an ordinary rented house in Chandigarh’s Sector 33, a high-stakes IPL betting ring was silently thriving until the cops showed up. Acting on inside info during the Punjab Kings vs. Mumbai Indians match on May 26, the Operations Cell swooped in, catching the culprits red-handed.
The raid, led by Inspector Ranjit Singh and backed by SP Geetanjali Khandelwal and DSP Vikas Sheokand, was anything but small. The scene was straight out of a movie, phones buzzing, screens flashing scores, routers blinking, and money quietly changing hands. By the end of it, four men were in custody, and a mini tech hub used for illegal betting was shut down.
The Haul: Phones, Laptops & A ‘Gamble Box’
House No. 1229 didn’t just have furniture, it had 43 mobile phones, 6 laptops, 2 tablets, an LED screen, 2 Wi-Fi routers, and a portable “gamble box,” whatever that is. Clearly, this wasn’t just casual betting, it was a well-oiled machine, handling lakhs of rupees every single day.
The suspects, Hardeep Singh aka Jolly (50), Deepak aka Deepu Pepsi (43), Santosh (19), and Bhuvan (25) were all locals, operating from what now seems like a central hub of illegal gambling.
An Underground Network with Global Ties
This wasn’t your average neighborhood bet. The syndicate had early access to live IPL feeds and offered real-time odds on every move in the game. What’s even more alarming? The payment system was strictly offline, done in cash via middlemen making it even harder to trace.
Early leads hint that parts of the operation may have roots in Dubai, where betting laws are more relaxed. This opens the door to a possible international betting syndicate with financial ties beyond Indian borders.
Booked Under the Punjab Gambling Act
At the Sector 34 Police Station, all four men have been charged under Sections 3 and 4 of the Punjab Gambling Act. Authorities are now chasing digital trails and hunting for others linked to the racket.
Cricket Fever, Cash & Crime
As IPL fever grips the country, it’s clear some are using it to cash in illegally. What seemed like just another game night ended up exposing a massive underground racket. And it all began with a whisper and ended with flashing red and blue lights.