New Delhi: In an unbelievable instance of fraud in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, a group of villagers organized an entire ‘fake’ IPL cricket tournament, which happens to be one of the richest sports leagues across the world.
Wondering how they managed to pull off such a high-profile con with nominal resources? Well, all it took was several farm labourers, an artist who could mimic former cricketer and commentator Harsha Bhogle, and an ‘official’ Telegram channel for their league.
And the reason for all these efforts? The act was carried out to dupe punters addicted to betting on the popular T20 leagues. According to the reports, the bets were placed by remotes audiences sitting in various cities of Russia as well as other European countries.
The con came to the public notice on Sunday when Gujarat police busted the racket in a remote village in Ahmedabad. The act was been undergoing on an isolated farm in Molipur village of Mehsana district.
Moreover, the fake sports league also involved fake teams including Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gujarat Titans (GT), Mumbai Indians (MI), and others. The league had reached its quarterfinal stage when the cops busted the illegal event.
Interestingly, the ’21 labourers’ would change their jerseys in different matches as per the teams locking horns on the field, and the very same players would play with each other in different knockouts.
The group had installed five HD cameras on the field, with umpires flaunting their wakie-talkies while umpiring the tournament, with an artist from Meerut commentatoring in Harsha Bhogle style.
Sound effects were added as well to provide the remote audiences an ambience of crowded stadium.
The fake IPL commenced live streaming on YouTube channel name IPL weeks after the original league concluded last month.
Cheif organizer Shoeb Davda has been arrested in the matter among others. Davda has reportedly returned to India a few months ago after working in a Moscow pub for several months.
