KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 12

Police have arrested seven persons for operating illegal betting through online medium on the ongoing Indian Premier League cricket tournament being held in three cities of United Arab Emirates.

The arrested are four Indian nationals Kuldip Sharan, 51, and Sanjeev Sharan 40, an Indian national staying at Hotel Konark Inn at Kamalpokhari, Ajay Gautam, 38, of Kanpur, India, residing here at Kuleshwor, Kathmandu, and Naveen Jain, 46, a permanent resident of Delhi and Rajasthan in India.

The other three Nepalis include Pradeep Ghimire of Sindhupalchowk district, Uttam Sapkota, 51, of Kuleshwor and Anil Kumar Bansal, 55, of Soaltee Mode, Kathmandu.

Police had yesterday arrested Kuldeep Sharan from Kalimati area on the basis of a tip off from a source about the ongoing betting. Six others were arrested following Sharan’s arrest.

Jain was arrested today.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Apil Raj Bohora of Metropolitan Police Circle, Kalimati, who led the operation said that all the arrested are charged with the gambling act. He further said that the arrested were a part of larger gambling groups who operated from different cities in India. “For instance, we have come to know that these are part of a Rajasthan Bookie who operates such betting through dark web,” Bohora said.

Dark web is unlike regular internet domains, which do not display anything upon entering the website address in our regular browsers. One needs to have special user ID and password and other software to be able to logon to the dark web. Dark webis infamous for trading in illegal arms and ammunitions, drugs and child trafficking in developed countries.

According to DSP Bohora, controlling such illegal betting that operates through the dark web has become problematic in Nepal since they use mobile phones to conduct such business. Bohora said “Availability of high speed internet through 4G in mobile phones has increased such activities drastically. This has become a growing challenge for Nepal police right now.”

Earlier, on October 1, Nepal Police had arrested three persons on a similar charge of betting on IPL matches from Biratnagar Metropolitan City.

Among those arrested were Satyajit Shah, 38, Baijnath Shah, 38, and Jagadish Shah, 42. Satyajit was arrested red-handed during a raid and Rs 60,000, three smartphones, one laptop and a motorbike were confiscated.

A version of this article appears in print on October 13, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.