Five Indian Citizens have been fined by a Bangladeshi mobile court for illegal betting on Tuesday (8 January), Cricbuzz has reported. A government official told that five of them had illegal betting through their mobile phones during Bangladeshi Premier League (BPL) matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium.
In order to tackle illegal betting during BPL, an inter-ministerial meeting was held in January 2018, which empowered local administration in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittogram to run mobile courts while cricket matches. Same rule was followed this year by the organisers in the ongoing edition of the league.
Executive magistrate of the mobile court Imrul Hasan said that five Indians had been fined 4,000 Takas and had also been expelled from the stadium. "They were involved in betting with mobile phones. We imposed a fine of Tk 4,000 for each and expelled them from the ground. They will not be allowed to watch any more BPL game this season," Hasan said.
According to the report, three of them - Deepak, Sanjeeb Kumar and Sunil Kumar - hail from Haryana. Magistrate Imrul added that another Indian had received a similar punishment on Sunday (6 January).
Twenty people, of which six were Indians, are punished during the first three days of the BPL, he said. Imrul also noted that a Bangladeshi citizen, Sajeeb Ahmed from Madaripur had been jailed for entering the stadium without a ticket as well as threatening the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials.