Nagpur: In a kind of ‘surgical strike,’ city police cracked down on cricket bookies and hawala traders on late Monday night. The special drive was conducted on direct orders from Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar who has vowed to make Nagpur crime free.
During the raid, cops rounded up over a dozen notorious bookies and hawala traders. Eight other gamblers were also netted by the cops. The late night action triggered tremors among the criminals.
Notably, the Lakadganj police had last week arrested infamous gambler Piyush Bansal, resident of Ambedkar Square. But, surprisingly, he was set free within minutes of his arrest. When the Commissioner of Police learnt of the shady deal, he personally visited the police station and gave a dressing down to officers. Bansal was interrogated again under the supervision of the top cop. During questioning, names of other bookies and hawala traders came to the fore. In the meantime, news reached Nagpur police about arrest of notorious bookie Charlie by Amravati police.
Following the development, the city Commissioner of Police swung into action and formed a special team to crackdown on bookies and hawala traders in the city.
The special team raided many places and rounded up the bookies and hawala traders in a late Monday night drive.
The operation was kept a closely guarded secret. The entire operation was being monitored by Amitesh Kumar himself. The Commissioner of Police himself interrogated the notorious bookies late in the night.
The cricket bookies were running hi-tech betting rackets on ongoing IPL cricket matches. The police found records of bets and transactions of lakhs of rupees from the computers.
The cops will examine the transactions to identify potential customers of the accused persons. Nagpur is known for its cricket betting rackets. Even many criminals are also working with the bookies for recovery of the amount.
