On August 2nd, 2007, the Crime Branch of the Surat Police arrested eight suspects for partaking in an illegal betting ring on a cricket match.
Police officers also confiscated Rs 94,000 in total cash, four bottles of alcohol and six cellular phones used to call customers to arrange bets, making it harder for police officers to trace the call back to its origin from the hotel room.
The police officers also confiscated a diary containing names and numbers of those people that wagered on the match between the cricket teams. Acting on a tip from an anonymous caller, the police officers raided the room no. 104 located at the Hotel Raj on Sumul Dairy road and found six people involved in illegal betting activity between cricket Yorkshire and Nottingham cricket teams.
The police officers also arrested the hotel manager and the waiter aside from the six suspects. The six suspects arrested by the police officers are Raman Boss a.k.a. Arjun Patel from Panchratna Apartment in Varachha, Umesh Patel from Dahisar West of Mumbai, Jitu Sohalia from Ghashyamnagar Society at Varacha, Chandu Patel from Shaktivijay Society of Varachha, Pramod Bhagwa from Bhatia Street at Nanpura and Bharat Joshi from Sitaramngar from Kamrej taluka from Surat district.
The hotel manager is Bhavarsinh Purohit and the waiter is Parvatsinh Rajput. According to the police officers, Raman Boss was handling the entire betting network and five other individuals that are working for him.
They were taking wagers from different customers on cellular phones. The police officers said Raman Boss is an infamous criminal and he was earlier arrested by authorities for gaming and cricket wagering activities.
September 12, 2007
Matt Gross