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Cops sniff an illegal betting racket in Bombay

Jake Khan in Bombay

In a major crackdown on illegal betting at the Mahalaxmi Race Course, a special team of the Crime Branch on Sunday raided three bookies attached to the Royal Western India Turf Club and seized incriminating documents.

The team was led by senior police inspector Shirish Inamdar and the three bookies raided were identified as Ram and Ram, Fred and Company and Baji. ''Nobody has been arrested so far. We have seized some papers for scrutiny,'' deputy commissioner of police, Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Anant Shinde said today.

Shinde said he had received several complaints about illegal bets being accepted at these stalls.

''We have seized some plain and some cryptically marked papers. When inquiries were made with the bookies they failed to explain the purpose of these chits,'' Inamdar said.

The papers have been sent to RWITC office-bearers who will try to unscramble the messages. ''We are expecting a report from them. If the bookies are found guilty of illegal betting, the RWITC will cancel their licences and we will charge them with gambling,'' Shinde said.

Preliminary investigations, meanwhile, have revealed that the cryptic messages might be coded bets aimed at misleading the government and the RWITC about their true value. For every bet, a bookie pays a 10 per cent tax to the government and 16 per cent to the RWITC. By undervaluing their bets, they save considerable amount of money in taxes.

A Mahalaxmi Race Course insider said the most popular way of accepting a coded bet is the 1 + 4 method, wherein, a bookie accepts a bet of Rs 1000, but makes an entry of Rs 200 in his books. The method suits punters (people who place bets) too, because they also save on taxes.

In Bombay, there are several Off Course Betting Centre (OCBC) at Khar, Borivli and Kurla. The police are now planning to raid these places too.

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