Surat: The Cyber Crime Police in Surat have busted an illegal online betting and gaming racket operating through a website and arrested nine individuals from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.

Investigations revealed that the accused used the betting platform to circulate and launder money siphoned off through cyber frauds committed across the country.

According to police, the accused are linked to 110 cyber fraud complaints across 21 states, involving transactions worth ₹19.24 crore routed through 391 bank accounts.

The racket came to light during the investigation of a cybercrime case registered in Surat. In the case, a Western Railway employee from the city was duped of ₹8.12 lakh after fraudsters lured him with the promise of a pension. The callers allegedly posed as officials from the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) office and convinced him to transfer the money.

During the probe, cybercrime officials arrested Pranshu Pathak, who had received part of the defrauded amount. During questioning, he revealed that a gang involved in cyber fraud and online betting was operating from a rented flat in Rewa.

Acting on the information, a police team raided the flat and arrested eight more suspects, Gulfam Hussain, Abhinav Pandey, Samir Hussain, Dharmaraj Vishwakarma, Aditya Sahani, Aftab Hussain, Taufiq Ali and Shahnawaz Ali.

Police said the accused were running a website called BetBook247com, an online gaming platform through which betting IDs were issued to users to place wagers. The cyber fraud proceeds were allegedly used to pay winnings to bettors. DeshGujarat