The Brahmapur police managed to arrest Dinesh Rathi, the mastermind of a major Indian Premier League (IPL) betting syndicate that was operating in Brahmapur and other parts of Odisha.

The police said Rathi was nabbed in Kolkata on Thursdauy and brought to Brahmapur, where he has been remanded to police custody for five days. Earlier Rathi was produced in the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACCM) Court in Kolkata where his transit remand was granted. Besides, various bank accounts of Rathi having deposits of Rs 72,96,000 were frozen, said Brahmapur SP Pinaki Mishra.

Mishra said Rathi with the help of his associates in Brahmappur and other parts of the State was operating the massive IPL betting racket in Odisha.

Rathi was on the run after the Brahmapur police busted the betting syndicate in October 2020 by rounding up some of its key operatives. Those included Lalie Achari, a close aide of Rathi, and four others. Preliminary investigations carried out by the Brahmapur police following the arrest of the five members in the IPL betting syndicate revealed that the conduits were in close touch with bookies across major cities in the country as well as Dubai.Achari was allegedly in close touch with bookies in different parts of the country including Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai, police had revealed. However, the mastermind of the sly operation, Rathi, managed to elude  the police dragnet until his hideout in Kolkata was busted during a swoop on Thursday.

The IPL betting racket here used to collect money through several Apps and websites and the entire operation was being operated online. This had initially created problems for the police in carrying out a detailed investigation to bust the entire IPL betting racket.