A Karnataka cop failed to escape the betting fever himself after he was appointed to be a part of a crime bureau team keeping tabs on betting and gambling racket. He was arrested for allegedly running a racket himself in Chikkaballpura district.
According to reports, the crime surfaced after Karnataka police arrested a betting racket ring leader and he later dared the officials to arrest a head constable in district crime bureau, who according to the racket ring leader, ran a much bigger racket than him.
Head Constable Manjunath (42) is a resident of Chintamani and was arrested following the information received by the police. A senior cop was quoted as saying that accused cop had been running the betting racket for a long time.
Reports stated that Manjunath was a part of a police investigation team, which was responsible for keeping an eye on gambling, betting and prostitution. It was learnt that the modus operandi was followed by Manjunath after he noted it down following the arrests made by the team. Later, he used it to conduct his own racket.
An officer from the team stated that Manjunath had also taken help of several betting racket masters to run his own racket.
It was alleged that Manjunath used to help criminals involved in betting and gambling escape by alerting them about the police movement. The betting was not limited to cricket alone. People were encouraged to bet on high-value assets like land and residential plots.
Constable suspended, was being watched for a long time
Chikkaballapura District Superintendent of Police G.K. Mithun Kumar stated that last week, the constable was suspended, and he was being watched for a long time. The racket ring leader's information led to Manjunath's arrest and he was taken into custody on Thursday evening but later was tested corona positive.
Earlier this month, in Indore, five persons, including two women, were arrested for allegedly accepting bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League matches. Rs 9,500 was recovered in cash and details of bets running into more than Rs 10 lakh was also recovered.
