The Income Tax (IT) Department on Tuesday busted a betting racket budding in DlF Phase 2 area of Gurugram, Haryana. The raid was conducted on information received from a local source. Some unaccounted income of over Rs 100 crore has been unearthed by the officials with as many as 27 Nokia mobile phones recovered from the residence where the racket was being operated from.
The revelation follows a probe into suspicious transactions by a casino 1,800 km away in Goa. Apart from the house in an upscale locality of Gurgaon that appeared to be serving as the headquarters of the betting racket, tax officials also conducted searches in Goa, Delhi, Noida and Kolkata. Sources said the team had seized cash in excess of 2 crores besides jewellery and an unspecified amount of foreign currency.
Tax officials found the betting operators had built a mini-telephone exchange, small enough to fit into two briefcases, which were connected with 27 mobile and smart phones and a laptop. They had invested heavily into their communication infrastructure for a high-bandwidth operation, the official said.
The tax department, after initial questioning of the house owner, handed the accused along with the betting gadgets to Gurgaon police for initiating proceedings against them under criminal law.
