Cricket betting ring uncovered during Income Tax raid

What's the story?

Following coordinated income tax raids across multiple cities in India, IT officials have uncovered what they have described as "one of the biggest cricket betting rackets" in recent times.

The ring involved expensive gadgets, among them concealed telephones and "mini telephone exchanges" for secure communication amongst the members of the ring, among other things.

The racket was found to be operating out of a private residence in Gurgaon.

In case you didn't know...

India has long had problems with betting syndicates, with multiple cricketers - among them Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja - banned for life from the sport after evidence of their links to betting rings was uncovered.

As recently as last week, a sting operation uncovered evidence that pitch curator Pandurang Salgaonkar had accepted a large sum of money from reporters posing as bookies, to tamper with the pitch - proving that betting syndicates - and those supporting and part of them - are still active.

The details

The coordinated raids were a direct result of investigations of Goa casinos, where authorities had information of operators participating in high-value betting and hawala transfers. Goa and Gurgaon were not the only places involved, with searches also carried out in Noida, New Delhi and Kolkata.

Among the items found were "smart phones, laptop, big dish antennas, modem and a high mast antenna."

What's next?

No authorities have responded so far, and these has not yet been any official statement on whether any of the matches from the India-New Zealand ODI series are under the scanner.

A statement is awaited.

Author's Take

Although illegal in India, betting circles are active despite some action from authorities. Given the recent revelations in Pune, it could be possible that