Lucknow: What looked like an ordinary flat on Kursi Road turned out to be the hub of a hi-tech cyber syndicate duping unsuspecting people through illegal online betting games, minting over Rs 1 crore in just 30 days.The gang, involving people primarily from Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, was busted by the eastern zone crime team and Gudamba police with the arrest of 16 people, on Wednesday.Police received a tip-off about suspicious activities by young men with multiple mobile devices and laptops. A crack team swooped in and nabbed 16 members of the gang. The team seized Rs 1.07 crore cash stacked in bundles, along with 79 ATM cards, 22 passbooks, 13 cheque books, 54 mobile phones, three laptops, and two note-counting machines.The accused were identified as Pramod Sahu (25), Sajid Ansari (24), Khemendra Sahu (23), Sohail Ashraf Khan (28), Tikesh Kumar Yadav (23), Sachin Kumar Gupta (24), Abhay Mishra (22), Ansh Sharma (21), Shankar Bag (22), Vinayak Chauhan (24), Mohan Singh (29), and Vijay Sahni (23), all from Chhattisgarh, and Rakesh Kumar (50), Rakesh Prahlad Patel (50), Govindbhai Mangaldas Prajapati (50), and Govindbhai (31) from Gujarat.“Their network is spread across India, and their turnover in a single month crossed Rs 1 crore,” a senior police officer said.DCP, east zone, Shashank Singh, said that the gang operated under the guise of online betting platforms, offering flashy games promising quick money.“Unsuspecting players deposited money, believing they could win big, but the funds were diverted to fake, rented bank accounts created using forged documents,” said Singh.“To evade detection, the gang withdrew cash almost immediately via ATMs, converting digital traces into hard currency. The money was then funnelled to kingpins running illegal betting platforms, with every member of the gang pocketing a cut,” the DCP said, adding that the masterminds could be operating from Dubai.Police said specific roles were assigned to members for account creation, fund transfers, cash withdrawal, and coordination with betting app operators.“The mobile numbers recovered from the flat indicate that the arrested men were part of a larger network. The CID Cyber Cell and IT experts have been roped in to trace the servers and digital footprints,” an officer said.
