Another season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has begun and the world’s most successful cricket league is once again drawing huge crowds. The IPL is a massive financial success and the event is as much about rupees as about runs. But where there is big money, there are big crooks too. Money draws the attention of various criminal elements who try to make hay while the sun shines.
Recently, the Hyderabad Police issued a warning to betting syndicates stating that strict action will be taken against any individual or group that is found to be involved in online and offline gambling. Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said that despite the earlier actions of the police force leading to the banning of several betting apps, illegal activities have resurfaced in new forms in recent times.
Nowadays, fraudsters are using websites and social media platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram to lure users into betting. Often, it begins in an innocuous manner. An invitation is sent out to a likely victim to attend a select gathering in a residential house or a farmhouse. Often bookies target immature and impressionable youths and push them into gambling debts.
At the party, everyone is placing bets using mobile phones. It is easy for any youngster to get sucked into an activity that seems exciting and rewarding. That is how it all begins and before long, the hapless victim is trapped in a never-ending cycle of gambling.
New trend among criminals
But it is not only gambling or match fixing that the police and the IPL organisers must guard against. Of late, a new trend of criminal activity has emerged. Organised gangs of pickpockets are targeting unwary spectators and stealing cash as well as cell phones. There has been a phenomenal rise in such crimes.
Multiple cases have been reported at different venues but the maximum incidents have been reported from Bengaluru. During the opening match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28, one gang of pickpockets was arrested by the Cubbon Park Police and 26 stolen phones were recovered.
Recent investigations by the police have revealed that organised gangs, mostly from regions like Jharkhand and West Bengal, travel to different stadiums in the IPL circuit to commit their crimes. Last year, no less than 74 cell phones were recovered from pickpockets after gang members were arrested by the police in Chennai after the 2025 season of the IPL had ended.
Unemployed youth being lured into crime
These gangs have been known to recruit individuals, usually unemployed youngsters, on daily wages to pickpocket and snatch phones in crowded IPL matches. The thefts commonly occur when spectators are distracted or moving through crowded points, like ticket counters or while boarding public transport after a match when everyone comes out in a hurry.
Last year, the Chennai Police arrested 11 juveniles from an interstate gang which was operating in the city. Four of the teenaged boys were from Jharkhand and four from West Bengal, while the other three belonged to different states.
Often, more than a dozen phones have been reported stolen during one single match. The total number of phones stolen during the entire 2025 season was nearly 1,000. During last year’s IPL season, the final match in Ahmedabad saw 100 cases of phones being stolen just in that one match alone at the Narendra Modi stadium.
The figures of stolen phones during last year’s IPL are mind-boggling. According to reports in The Hindu and The Times of India, 35 mobile phones were reported stolen during one week. Kannada newspaper Udayavani reported that more than 20 cell phones were stolen during one match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on March 22, 2025.
Modus operandi of the criminals
In another such case, eight migrant workers, including four juveniles, were caught after they had stolen 38 phones in one week during matches at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. A police officer revealed that the gang members would buy tickets for the matches, enter the stadium and then divert the attention of nearby spectators before stealing their phones.
One such person named Rajkumar from West Bengal had been involved in many phone theft cases. Rajkumar, Akash, Vishal Kumar and Gopi Kumar – all young men in their early 20s – were caught when the police laid a successful trap for them.
The men were young but very experienced. They knew that there would be a hue and cry once the large-scale thefts were discovered. So they never targeted the same venue more than twice. If the first attempt was highly successful, they would not wait even for the second attempt.
Phones being transported out of India
They would try to do their handiwork in one massive strike and then head out of the city. The stolen phones were then transported to remote locations or across borders, either to Nepal or Bangladesh, to make them untraceable, as local cellular networks would not work there.
Despite all the precautions of the police, it seems unlikely that the gangs will cease their operations completely. In 2026, too, they seem to be active in trying to hoodwink the public. If it happened during the first match in Bengaluru, it can happen again in later matches.
It is up to the spectators to remain completely vigilant and take care of their belongings inside the stadium. Regardless of the excitement on the ground, it is advisable for every spectator and also the security personnel to be aware of what is going on in their immediate vicinity. Or the fans and spectators may end up paying a heavy price for their lack of alertness.
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