Ludhiana: Ludhiana police have arrested two city residents who worked as couriers for miscreants running IPL betting and hawala money transactions. The police said that the accused duo would arrange mule accounts for their bosses, and those accounts were further used in hawala transactions. The arrested accused are Shubham Dikshit of Grewal Colony and Vikas Mehta of New Kartar Nagar. The police arrested them following a tip-off. The police said that the accused Shubham already has three FIRs against him, including cases involving betting and scuffling.Inspector Gurjeet Singh, SHO at Division Number 4 police station, said that the police received a tip-off about the accused, following which they were arrested. The accused are part of a nexus involved in IPL betting. The accused Shubham and Vikas used to approach poor and needy people to arrange mule accounts. They would get their bank accounts opened and would use them in transferring betting money as well as hawala money. The accused would give those people Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 and would misuse their bank accounts.The Inspector added that the police have sought details from the banks about the bank accounts the accused duo got opened in their branches. The police are also questioning the accused about their bosses. The official added that the accused Shubham has a criminal history. Earlier, he was booked in a cricket match betting case. He also has a scuffle FIR against him, while Vikas does not have any criminal record. The police believe that a big hawala network could be busted with the arrest of the accused and their bosses, who are currently being traced. A case under sections 318 (4) (cheating), 336 (2) (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security, will etc.), and 340 (2) (using forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the BNS has been lodged against the accused.
