Nagpur: Cracking down on an international cricket betting syndicate, the Nagpur Police Crime Branch’s Unit 4 raided a rented house in Manish Nagar and arrested seven individuals, including a Nepalese national. The operation was conducted on Monday evening during the Champions Trophy match between Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Acting on intelligence inputs, police stormed Plot No. 20, Shilpa Society, Somalwada, under Beltarodi Police Station limits, where the accused were caught red-handed placing online bets through an illegal platform named SHABBY Online. The racket had reportedly been operating in the area for the past 7-8 days, with key links to Balaghat and other locations.
Gold Rate
Wednesday 26Feb. 2025
Bookies posed as students to deceive landlord
In a bid to dodge police action, the accused had rented the house under the pretext of being students. They convinced the landlord that frequent visitors were fellow students attending study sessions. Their cover remained intact until Monday’s raid, when police exposed the high-stakes betting operation.
Seized items & financial investigation underway
During the crackdown, authorities confiscated a significant cache of electronic devices used for betting:
• 35 Android mobile phones
• 4 laptops, 3 CPUs
• 3 tables, 6 chairs
• An Activa scooter
The total value of the seized assets is estimated at ₹7.60 lakh. Officials are now tracking the financial trail and investigating possible connections to larger betting networks operating at an international level.
Arrested individuals
The seven arrested individuals have been identified as:
1. Dinesh Lokchand Wardhani (42)
2. Jaishankar Nandkishore Singh (26)
3. Sunny Anil Kumar Jaswani (24)
4. Vishal Kanhaiyalal Banwari (21)
5. Tanula Amritlal Guruwani
6. Giriraj Peet Bahadur Khanna (32), a resident of Kodi village, Nepal
7. An unidentified online ID holder
The operation was executed under the supervision of DCP Detection Rahul Maknikar and ACP Dr. Abhijeet Patil. Authorities suspect the racket could be part of a larger betting network, with links extending beyond Nagpur. Investigations are ongoing to identify additional operatives involved in the syndicate.
This latest crackdown underscores the growing presence of digital betting networks and the police’s intensified efforts to dismantle them.
