Raipur, Apr 16 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh police have arrested 14 persons from many states for allegedly accepting bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches via Mahadev betting apps, a police official said on Wednesday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already investigating the Mahadev app betting scam in Chhattisgarh.

Of 14 arrested, six hail from Chhattisgarh, three from Jharkhand, two from Madhya Pradesh and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Raipur Range Inspector General of Police Amresh Mishra said.

Eight of them were nabbed from Kolkata and six from Guwahati, he said.

They were caught based on the statement of one Nikhil Wadhwani, who was arrested on April 13, for accepting online bets on IPL matches, he added .

The police seized 67 mobile phones, eight laptops, four routers, 94 ATM cards, 15 SIM cards, 32 bank passbooks, three bank cheque books, one security camera, and betting records transaction records worth Rs 30 lakh from them, the official said.

The arrested accused were accepting bets through the panels of Mahadev betting app named L95 Lotus, Lotus 651 and LOTUS 656, he said.

After arrest, the accused told the police that they bought the panels between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, the official said.

“The accused have made transactions worth crores of rupees through 500 bank accounts and we will soon approach the related banks to freeze these accounts,” he said.

In the 17 betting cases concerning the ongoing IPL season, 41 persons have been nabbed for operating through apps, IDs, panels and links named “Gajanand app, Mr bean, Winpro-in, Diamond999-com, Wood777, Classic99-com, Funapp, Vazircom, Unclebet9com, Kingdombook9com, Shubhlabh app, Gold363 app via Mahadeo panels,” he claimed.

Also, letters have been written to banks to freeze more than 1,500 accounts through which the accused made transactions for betting, he added. PTI COR NR