CricHeroes has said they had “no knowledge of or association” with a betting scheme on two fraudulent cricket events in Mehsana, Gujarat and Hapur, Uttar Pradesh.
In a statement, the Ahmedabad-based company said they were committed to providing the best quality service to all stakeholders in grassroots cricket.
“We would like to categorically state that neither CricHeroes nor any of its representatives have anything, in any manner, whatsoever to do with the said cricket tournaments and the alleged illegal activities,” CricHeroes Founder Abhishek Desai said on Thursday.
“We never have and never will in any manner support the same. We are investigating this at our end and are already cooperating with the investigations by the authorities in this regard.”
Desai added that such actions were unacceptable for the CricHeroes community. He said his company had requested anyone with information that could assist the ongoing investigations to contact them.
“We explicitly condemn such activities and are committed to running our business in a legal manner, providing you, our users, the best services and facilities through our Platform. If you have any further information about this scam which you believe would help the investigations, please reach out to us at the earliest at abhishek@cricheroes.in. Any assistance will be much appreciated,” Desai said.
“CricHeroes is on a mission to empower millions of grassroots cricketers to showcase their talent, get recognition and become better with data. No one can deter us from that mission,” the release said.
Fake T20 cricket league busted in Gujarat, Hapur
Earlier on Tuesday, an international internet cricket betting ring was dismissed in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. This scheme, which went by the name “Big Boss T20 Punjab League,” was organised by Rishabh Kumar, a Gwalior resident, and Shabbu Ahmad, a Meerut resident.
The authorities have arrested Kumar and Ahmad. According to Bhuker, Ashok Chaudhary, who lives in Moscow, Russia, was the “mastermind” of the scam, which was conducted via the CricHeroes mobile app.
“Two people have been arrested. They were organising a fake T20 tournament named ‘Big Boss T20 Punjab League’. Through software, they were live-streaming the matches on YouTube,” Hapur Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhuker told ANI.
“During questioning, one name Asif Chaudhary also cropped up, whose name came up in Gujarat case as well. He is at present located in Moscow”, added Bhuker.
The police also detained Davda Shoeb Abdulmajeed (Molipur), Sefi Mahamad Saqib Riyazuddin (Meerut), Koli Mahamad Abubakar (Molipur), and Davda Sadiq Abudlmajeed (Molipur). They also placed Asif Mohammad on the wanted list.
According to the primary investigation in Gujarat, Shoeb was the one who came up with the concept of organising an IPL-like competition to receive bets from Russia-based bookies. He had engaged roughly 20 farm labourers and local teenagers to play fake T20 cricket matches for Rs 400 per match.
The police suspected that the Hapur and Gujarat cases were only the tip of the iceberg as the scam expanded beyond cities and involved sports other than cricket.
“We have come to know that matches have been live-streamed in Meerut also and talks were on for including other sports like volleyball," said Bhuker.
