Picture Credit: Twitter
The emergence of fake IPL tournaments across states is starting to become a new trend in the country. Days after a fake IPL tournament was unearthed in Gujarat, another fake cricket league has been busted in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district. The league was identified as Big Bash Punjab T20 League. Local police have reportedly arrested two accused who were organising this tournament for the sake of betting.
The initial inquiry revealed that organisers had created a YouTube channel to live stream the matches from the Hapur district where the local players were introduced as Ranji players and were paid a hefty sum of Rs. 30-40 thousand per match, while the organisers placed hefty bets.
According to police, Russians associated with the tournament were using an app called Cric Heroes to place bets as bets were being invited from various countries around the world. Reports have claimed that the local police have held a couple of accused identified as Shabbu Ahmed from Meerut and Rishabh Kumar from Gwalior while seizing the equipment which were used for the live streaming of the matches.
According to a report, matches were held at Sudha Cricket ground in Meerut where the tournament was being held for four days before the police busted the gang.
Earlier, police busted a gang conducting a fake T20 tournament in Gujarat which was organised for betting purposes. Even in that case, Russian bookies were placing best after watching the live streaming of the game on YouTube. Local police held four accused in that case.
This fake IPL tournament was being run over the last 15 days and involved duplicate teams of IPL franchises like Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, and other IPL franchises. Reports further suggested that an accused identified as Shoeb Davda was the leader of the racket. He returned to Molipur after working in a Russian pub for eight months. The club was popular for taking bets and helped him execute this plan.
It has further been confirmed that bets were placed on the game from Moscow, Voronezh and other European cities. The incident also managed to find a commentator who mimicked Harsha Bhogle during the live matches. Even, Harsha reacted to news and tweeted, "Can't stop laughing. Must hear this commentator."