In a significant move against illegal online betting, the Karnataka Cyber Command Unit has blocked around 8,750 websites ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final scheduled for May 31. This operation, described as one of the largest anti-online-betting efforts in India, was conducted in collaboration with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C). According to Pranab Mohanty, Director General of Police for the Cyber Command, the operation focused on organized groups running illegal betting platforms that utilized mirror domains and cloned URLs. The initiative aims to prevent substantial financial losses and disrupt the illegal betting ecosystem. However, the crackdown inadvertently affected several legitimate news websites, which were blocked by Internet Service Providers following requests from the Cyber Crime Unit. Users attempting to access these sites received messages indicating that the URLs had been blocked as per directives from the Department of Telecommunications. The police acknowledged that the algorithm may have mistakenly categorized these sites as related to betting. Legal actions are being pursued under the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for cheating.