The Latest

Gujarat Farmers Organize Fake IPL, Turn Farm Into Stadium & Dupe Russian Gamblers Off ₹3 Lakh

byLoveleen Kaur
12th July 2022
3 minute read

Moving beyond fake branded clothing and makeup, people around the world have also fake love stories and sometimes faked their own death, just for amusement. But these men in Gujarat went international with their ‘fakeism’ and duped Russian gamblers by faking an IPL (Indian Premier League).

Representative Image

From buying the jersey of multiple IPL teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI), and Gujarat Titans (GT), to setting up a farm to look like a stadium full of halogen lights, walkie-talkies, and five HD cameras, the local farmers and unemployed youth from Molipur village in Vadnagar taluka of Mehsana district did everything to make the tournament look legit, reported Times Now.

They even had people masquerading as umpires and a commentator from Meerut to mimic Harsha Bhogle. They even added ‘crowd noise’ while streaming the match on a YouTube channel. The bets were made on a Telegram channel.

Representative Image

The 21 men roped in would change into the jersey of different teams and play the match for Rs 400 per day. All this was done months after the original IPL had concluded.

The attention to detail is what lured Russian punters from different cities including Tver, Voronezh, and Moscow to bet on the game. Interestingly, they pulled off the fake tournament from the farm for over a fortnight and earned around Rs 3 lakhs.

However, all their efforts went down the drain as the cops busted their fake IPL tournament before they could play the semi-finals.

According to a report by The Economic Times, one Shoeb Davda, who returned to Molipur after working for eight months in a Russian pub famous for taking bets, helped execute the plan.

“Shoeb hired the farm of Ghulam Masih and installed halogen lights there. He readied 21 farm laborers, promising them Rs 400 per match. Next, he hired cameramen and bought t-shirts of IPL teams,” informed the cops.

Representative Image

On being arrested, Shoeb spilled that it was Asif Mohammed, a man he met while working in the Russian pub, who was the mastermind behind the fake IPL along with his other mates, Sadiq Davda, Saqib, Saifi, and Mohammed Kolu, who also umpired in the fake IPL matches.

“Shoeb would take bets. He would instruct Kolu, the umpire, to signal fours and sixes. Kolu would alert the batsman and the baller. Next, the baller would deliver a slow ball, enabling the batsman to hit it for a four or a six. The cameramen would pan the cameras towards the sky to show that the ball was nowhere in sight. Next, they would zoom into the umpire who would signal a six. The cameramen ensured there were no zoom-outs lest the farm became visible,” added SOG PI, Mehsana, Bhavesh Rathod.

Watch it here:

Twitter was blown away by the plan which they almost managed to pull off.

As of now, arrests have been made with four people put behind bars. I can see a Bollywood movie in the making on this crafty storyline.
📣 Storypick is now on Telegram! Click here to join our channel (@storypick) and never miss another great story.