IPL betting racket busted in Vastrapur: One held, Master ID worth ₹26 lakh seized

In a late-night operation on Monday, Vastrapur police busted an illegal online cricket betting racket running out of a residential flat in the Sonal Complex, near Sanjeevni Hospital, arresting one accused and seizing digital evidence linked to ongoing betting on an IPL match.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided flat A/34 at Sonal Complex around 10.45 pm and detained 22-year-old Vimleshbhai Ajbani, who was found actively betting on the ongoing IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants using the website www.friends777.com/admin.

Ajbani was found using an iPhone 12 to operate the illegal betting portal. Upon inspection, police discovered he was logged into a betting account with credentials bearing the username 'MZ9091' and password 'Doshi5858'. Police officials recovered screenshots of ongoing transactions and a phone with an estimated value of ₹15,000, which has been seized as evidence.

During interrogation, Ajbani revealed that he and his associate Mit Doshi, a resident of the Himmatlal Park area behind Asopalav Showroom, had jointly purchased a 'Master ID' on the betting site for ₹26 lakh. This ID was used to distribute sub-accounts to multiple clients across the city for betting on cricket matches. In return, the duo earned a 50% commission on the losing amounts, while the remaining 50% was forwarded to the supplier of the Master ID.

The clients who were issued betting IDs include:

- Bunty Bharwad

- Dhruv Patel

- Krunal Gandhi

- Harsh Wadhwani

- Jethi Wadhwani

- Malav Dave

Ajbani also claimed that Mit Doshi had similarly distributed additional IDs to his own set of clients. No further equipment related to match-fixing was found during the search. However, police are now investigating the wider network and tracing the financial flow linked to the ₹26-lakh Master ID.

A case has been registered and investigation is underway. Police have stated that further arrests are likely in the coming days as they track down the remaining suspects involved in the betting operations.