The crime branch of the Mumbai police while investigating the biggest ever betting scandal of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has learnt that the bookies across the country and abroad are segregated into three modules as per their way of operation. The modules are called advance betting bookies, session betting bookies and regular bookies.
During the entire probe, the police has come across the names of hundreds of bookies and punters of the country, as well as of those who are operating from Pakistan and Dubai. “While going through the contacts of arrested bookies, Vyas and Tinku, and after interrogating them thoroughly about their modus operandi, we learnt that the bookies are of three kinds — advance betting bookies, session betting bookies and regular bookies — that work differently,” said an officer privy to investigation.
While explaining the operating styles of bookies’ modules, the officer said, “Few bookies operate by playing advance betting. In such cases, bets are accepted a month ago as tournaments schedules are available months before. We learnt that Shobhan Mehta alias Shobhan Kalachoki and Jayanti Malad are advance bookies, and in India only these two play advance betting.”
The second module is of session betting, which includes those bookies that accept bets only during specific sessions of a cricket match. Like, during power play, six-over sessions, last 10-over session, etc. The punters place bets as per the period of the session. Chandres Jain alias Jupiter, Munir Ahmedabad, Mukesh Delhi and Lambu Punjab are some of the major bookies of this genre, the officer added.
The third and the general module is that module, which comprises most of the bookies in the betting world. “In regular betting, punters are at liberty to place bets on the day of the match, and can also change bets during the match. In other modules, the punter cannot change the bets,” the officer said.