Police seeks CERT-IN’s assistance to put a lock on online gambling

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has been called upon by the Aurangabad police as a part of their efforts to restrict digital gambling activities. A Union agency for dealing with major cyber issues, the organization has been requested to block gambling activities providing undeterred access to Indians for placing bets, as reported by the Times of India on Saturday.

CERT-IN falls under the ambit of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Informational Technology and is usually tasked with handling cybersecurity threats across the country. The nodal agency is also called responsible for being the primary respondents in case of any major cyber incidents in India.

“Through the cyber police station, we have reached out to CERT-IN and requested it to ban these platforms and websites,” stated Geeta Bagwade, former cyber cell head at and currently a inspector at the Osmanpur police station.

She further added that rampant betting rackets have been exposed following the arrest of four people on the roads who were found betting on the Indian Premier League simply using their mobile devices. The information received through interrogation of these men is currently being used to track the bookies involved.

An extensive investigation by the police has revealed several websites and mobile applications allow its users to register themselves, following which they are assigned a bookie as per their location. Digital payments are then made to the representative, following which the players are provided in-app currency which can be used to place bets on several events including cricket matches. The online nature of the entire operation has made life difficult for the police, keeping them from effectively keeping track of all such incidents.

As a suggestion to counter such illicit gambling activities, cyber police have asked to charge suspects with the Information Technology Act’s harsher sections that do not provide any provisions for bail.