Weeks after the news of a fake Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament came to light in Gujarat, the Uttar Pradesh police busted another T20 competition in Hapur. The fake T20-style tournament called the 'Big Bash Punjab T20 League' was linked to an international betting racket.
Upon investigation, the police discovered that the organisers had created a YouTube channel to Livestream the matches from the Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh, and the local players who were called to play were introduced as Ranji players. Each of these players was given a big sum of Rs 30-40,000 per match while the organisers placed hefty bets.
The report also mentions that the organisers had Russian associates who used an application that goes by the name of 'CricHeroes,' which was used to place the bets. These bets were invited from different places across the world.
The Hapur Police arrested a few of the accused individuals — Shabbu Ahmed from Meerut and Rishabh Kumar from Gwalior — while seizing the equipment that was also used for the live streaming of these matches.
The matches took place at the Sudha Cricket ground in Meerut, where the tournament was held for four days before they were arrested in Hapur. The organisers had first hired a school cricket ground in Meerut where matches took place for five months.
The cops are on the lookout for Efimov, Asif Mohammed, and Ashok Chaudhary, who were said to have been responsible for all these things in Russia. Mohammed and Chaudhary are the same people, who were found out to be the masterminds behind the fake IPL scam in Molipur, Gujarat.
The UP police are also now also probing the links between the Hapur league and a scam in Pakistan as several calls were made to the neighbouring nation in addition to the ones in Russia and Sri Lanka.
