Pune Police To Question Turf Club Authorities About Illegal Betting Activities
Mehab Qureshi
Pune, December 4, 2020: After 31 people were arrested in connection with illegal horse race betting on Saturday, Pune Police has decided to question turf club authorities as to if they knew anything about this illegal betting.
As many as six laptops, some cell phones, and cash, collectively worth Rs 3.41 lakh have been found by the Pune City Police after successfully raiding six places.
This action was taken after a tip-off was received by Pune City Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta. DCP Pankaj Deshmukh led a team that conducted simultaneous raids within the city.
Out of the six raids conducted, three of the operations were carried within Wanowrie Police station limits. However, questions related to tip-off have been raised as to why didn’t the Wanowrie Police station know about the ongoing scam, or did they already know?.
When asked about it, Police Commissioner Gupta said, “We will look into this and take action.”
Why is betting online illegal?
Gupta added, “Betting inside horse racecourse is legal, as every bookie gets their stall and pays taxes accordingly. However, these bookies have started this procedure online, which meant anyone could bet as the sky would be the limit. In this way, they could evade taxes and other charges. The bookies had apps such as racing 999 which were used for betting.”
“Therefore we will question the racecourse authority as well, and retrieve information if they were aware of this”, he added.
