Fake IPL in Gujarat: How villagers duped Russian gamblers?

A gang, who set up fake 'IPL' matches on a farm in Gujarat town, accepted bets from Russian punters located in cities like Tver, Voronezh and Moscow. Such cricket matches were broadcast live through a Youtube channel tagged 'IPL' for more than a fortnight, according to a report by The Times of India.

As The Times of India reported, the tournament had reached its quarter-final stage before the police sprang into action. The organizers started the tournament three weeks after the original IPL tournament concluded.

These scammers accepted money from punters in three Russian cities of Tver, Voronezh and Moscow on fake cricket matches that were broadcast on YouTube on a channel called IPL. The 21 workers wore Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans jerseys, while recorded crowd noise added more sentiment to the fake matches.

The fake matches started three weeks after the real IPL concluded, making the big fraud even more audacious. All it took for the real-life scam to run was 21 farm workers and unemployed youth from the village, who took turns wearing Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians jerseys.

Unemployed youth and farmworkers even acted as referees and paraded their walkie-talkies in front of 5 HD cameras. To make the atmosphere authentic for the seated audience in Russia, crowd noise sound effects were downloaded from the Internet.

The audacity of the charade could be determined by the fact that the tournament started three weeks after the original IPL concluded. A team of 21 farmworkers and unemployed youth from the village took turns wearing Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians jerseys to give their Russian crowd the impression that the original IPL was underway.

The villagers also got referees, were given walkie-talkies and used 5 HD cameras for the broadcast to lend legitimacy to their charade. The crowd noise normally heard during a cricket match was downloaded from the internet and played during the broadcast to lend credibility to their tournament.

The services of a Meerut-based Harsha Bhogle "impersonator" were also used to increase the authenticity of the tournament and induce punters to bet their rubles on the Telegram channel. Amused by the story, Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle took to Twitter to share the newspaper's article about the incident.

SOG PI, Mehsana, Bhavesh Rathod explained how a man named Shoeb Davda, who spent eight months in a Russian pub known for gambling, came up with the whole scheme.

"Shoeb hired Ghulam Masih farm and installed halogen lights there. He groomed 21 farm workers, promising them 400 rupees per match. Then he hired cameramen and bought IPL team t-shirts. When the police got the tip, they felt something was up wrong," Rathod said.

In questioning him with the police, Davda said that the mastermind behind the scam was Asif Mohammed, whom he met while working in the Russian pub. It was Asif, Davda said, who introduced Russian punters to the nuances of cricket.

After returning to Molipur, Davda collaborated with Sadiq Davda, Saqib, Saifi and Mohammed Kolu to organize a fake IPL tournament.

The scammers were caught just after they were handed over the first betting odds worth Rs 3 lakhs. The police said that the fake IPL tournament was fixed. Shoeb placed bets on the Telegram channel, after which he instructed the umpires on the field to signal limits or sixes, who also instructed the bowlers and batsmen in the same. (Fake IPL in Gujarat)

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