IPL betting happening under Mumbai Police protection, claims Ambadas Danve

Ambadas Danve, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council, said on Tuesday that Mumbai police were protecting some people who were betting on IPL cricket matches.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) politician, who was speaking in the Upper House, promised to provide the council chairman a pen drive that had information about several chats and betting activities.

He claimed, “I have a pen drive that contains phone call details of an application called ‘Lotus 24’ used for betting on cricket matches. Mehul Jain, Kamlesh Jain, and Hiren Jain have connections with Pakistani cricket players. It also involves senior police officers of the Mumbai police. The betting activities are taking place under the protection of Mumbai police.”

He raised concerns over crime figures, stating that the state police agency reported 7,82,960 occurrences in 2024. He said that the Maharashtra government purposefully omitted the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 crime reports. The head of the Sena (UBT) asserted that the state’s lack of interest in pursuing criminals was the reason crime had surged.

He also brought attention to jail overpopulation, saying that 43,000 inmates were housed in the state’s prisons while only 27,000 could be housed there. Danve questioned the administration about the steps it was taking after pointing out that the state has documented financial irregularities of Rs 51,000 crore in 2024.