Nagpur: The Second Capital of Maharashtra has reportedly attained the notorious tag of ‘cricket betting hub.’ Cricket bookies in Nagpur have a good run with the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) at its peak.
According to media reports, Boma has overtaken Sontu Jain and has become ‘King’ in Nagpur satta world. However, police are surprisingly targeting only the small bookies while the ‘big fishes’ are off the hook and jumping the police net.
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Tuesday 21 Jan. 2025
As per the media reports, after the arrest of Central India’s biggest bookie Anant alias Sontu Jain (Gondia), bookies were in a panic. Many bookies in Nagpur fled to Pune and Goa. However, after the ‘power shift’, many bookies came ‘back to home’ and set up ‘fielding’ for the IPL betting. The bookies started the ‘innings’ as soon as the IPL season started. Assured that no action would be taken, the big bookies started ‘free hit batting.
Boma took over Sontu’s ID ‘DiamondExchange.com’. By that he started his ‘business’ in Central India with Nagpur as a ‘hub’. Due to this, a gang war can break out any time, say special sources in the bookie market. Just like Boma, betting market players Chit and Chug also play the ‘game’ online. Boma also ‘hijacked’ Prabhat with Sontu’s ID. Hence there is now a ‘cold war’ between the original owner of Prabhat and Bomat. Chintu and Chug are luring the youth into the addiction of online betting with hookah. It is reported that Chintu is running a cafe and he is accepting bets from this den.
The third place in the cricket betting world belongs to Paresh and Sudrani, both of whom have played online cricket betting with ‘Mango’ ID name. These cricket bookies have given their password to several small bookies. Small bookies are paid commissions ranging from 10 to 35 percent.
With this big bookies, Bunty Juice, Anwar, Golu Khamla, Candy, Manish, Rinku, Ganesh, Bhanja, Ritesh Bhurya, Dixit, Shukla Sadar, Bhushan, Mitesh are currently active in Nagpur and operating the ‘dirty’ business without fear.
However, the cricket bookies felt some heat on Saturday after the Nagpur Crime Branch arrested Ajinkya Jasudkar when he was accepting bets in Hanuman Nagar locality of the city. Police recovered four phones, a television and a set-top box. A note on bets placed and transactions made was also found. Jasudkar was later handed over to Ajni police, the first arrest of the season.
Reports said that the bookies, who used to go to places like Goa and Dubai, have started offering log in IDs and special apps for placing bets on the IPL matches from their city-based dens. Apart from digital identities, bookies are also using code names.
In the last couple of years, the IPL season had witnessed at least half a dozen raids by city and rural police independently. Because of election duty, the police department is unable to focus on bookies and their illegal activities, said senior officials. The bookies engage top goons for recovery which may lead to rise in crime, they added.
Software experts, who helped bookies to develop online betting apps, are said to be working round the clock to update the software as the tournament progresses. Though bookies have spread across the city, their well-known pockets like Jaripatka, Khamla, Wardhaman Nagar, Nandanvan and Sadar have come alive in the ongoing IPL season 17, the media reports said.
The reports further said that names like Pankaj, Rani, Bunty, Kalu, Kewalramani and their teams are flourishing in Jaripatka with the local police and crime branch. Shifting to online app versions, the bookies are now conveniently dodging police. In Khamla too, several bookies like Kennedy and Golu have started earning big bucks from IPL matches with the tournament turning interesting with the teams throwing up surprises. City’s top bookies like Chugh, Ashish B, Kamal, Panesar, Tanna and others from Wardhaman Nagar too are learnt to be operating freely with police surveillance not making any major impact.
