Nagpur: The Crime Branch Unit 3 of Nagpur Police unearthed an illegal cricket betting racket operating from a room near Hanuman Mandir in Orange Nagar on Saturday afternoon. Acting on a tip-off, a police team conducted a raid and arrested a 45-year-old man for allegedly accepting bets on the ongoing T20 cricket match between England and New Zealand in New Zealand.

The accused has been identified as Pawan Sohanlal Sakore (45), a resident of Swagat Nagar, Bhandewadi, Nagpur. Police said Sakore was caught red-handed accepting bets from customers through mobile phones.

During the operation, police seized four mobile phones, a Samsung tablet, and other equipment worth ₹47,205 used for the betting activity. The seized material and the accused have been handed over to Wathoda Police Station for further investigation.

A case has been registered under Sections 4 and 5 of the Maharashtra Gambling Act.

The action was carried out under the guidance of Commissioner of Police Ravinder Kumar Singal, Joint CP Navinchandra Reddy, Additional CP (Crime) Vasant Pardeshi, DCP (Detection) Rahul Makanikar, and ACP (Crime Branch) Abhijeet Patil.

The team comprised PI Anil Takasande, API Amit Deshmukh, PSI Ishwar Khorde, Milind Chaudhary, Head Constables Mukesh Raut and Vinod Gaikwad, and Constables Santosh Chaudhary and Vivek Bhoyar.