Indian money sponsors Pakistan cricket? Explosive claims emerge

For more than a decade, India and Pakistan have severed their bilateral cricketing ties. Although both teams play against each other in major tournaments, the hot-headed diplomatic relations and cross-border tensions have barred the sides from engaging in bilateral cricketing relations, especially since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. However, when it comes to cricket between the two nations, it has been alleged that there is one thing in common between the two, which happens to be Indian money. It had been reported that a large chunk of Indian money might be aiding Pakistan cricket, while a new report has exposed further details regarding the same.

In a recent report, it was claimed that Indian betting company Sky247 is one of the sponsors of Pakistan cricket, as it is a major sponsor in Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 (T20) franchise tournament, the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Interestingly, most of its revenue is generated from India before being invested in sponsoring Pakistan cricket. The report adds that 70% of the customers using the platform happen to be from Curacao Island in the West Indies, which has a large chunk of the Indian population, indirectly making it an Indian-profited company.

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Sky247 sponsored PSL for a value of PKR 2,640 crore. Besides, it also financed the T20I series between Pakistan and South Africa, played in Abu Dhabi last year. Also, the company has sponsored the Lanka Premier League (LPL) and UAE-Ireland T20Is, besides sponsoring quite a few T20 and T10 tournaments. At the same time, it also sponsored India's tour of Sri Lanka last year.

Although the Indian police are working hard to curb betting in India, it is facing a hard time stopping online betting. The Delhi High Court has asked the Indian government in 2019 to ban online betting sites in India, only to be turned down since the sites were operated from abroad. Meanwhile, recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has probed that some cricket betting networks are operated from Rajasthan and have links to Pakistan, reports The Times of India.

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A couple of First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed, with four names of the accused, who are based in Jaipur and Jodhpur. It has also claimed that reliable information has been gathered in connection to cricket betting during the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in Delhi. Also, allegations have been made that the network influences the outcomes of the games based on inputs that it gets from Pakistan.

In the FIR, it has been mentioned that the network cheats the customers by inducing them to bet and operates through mule accounts created using fake identification cards and KYC documents through unknown bank administrators. Also, the CBI investigated that some of the Indian money is being shared with associates based in overseas nations. It has also been understood that the individuals involved in the same have been in the betting business since 2010.