IPL spot-fixing: Ex-Ranji player questioned

Mumbai: The city crime branch on Monday grilled Chandresh Patel alias Chandbhai, a former Ranji player who was recently released on bail in the IPL spot-fixing case.

“We interrogated him as he was in touch with wanted bookies such as Jitendra alias Jitu Tharat and Pintu. We wanted to find out if he has any knowledge of their whereabouts,” said an officer. “We will summon him on Tuesday for another round of questioning. ”

A local court on Monday relaxed the bail restrictions imposed on accused Vindhu Dara Singh. The court had directed him to visit the crime branch office every alternate day.

The magistrate court agreed with his lawyer’s contention that as the offence was bailable, no restrictions could be imposed. TNN
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Hotelier ‘Victor’ may give betting proof against Guru

Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s director general of police (crime branch-CID) Narinder Pal Singh went on record on Friday to confirm to TOI that more than 80 calls were made from Chennai hotelier Vikram Agrawal alias Victor’s phones to Gurunath Meiyappan’s since the beginning of IPL-6 early April.

Agrawal, who’d been summoned by TN CB-CID, surfaced at the Mumbai crime branch instead on Friday morning, raising questions as to why he had chosen to seek out one while avoiding the other. The answer, it would appear, lies in the fact that he is a prime accused in TN for his links with Chennai betting kingpin Uttamlal Jain alias Kitty; in Mumbai, on the other hand, he can offer himself up as prosecution witness in the case against Meiyappan and Vindu Dara Singh, who are in the custody of Mumbai crime branch (there are no charges against either of them in TN). “He gets off lightly in return for giving evidence against Meiyappan and Vindu,” said an insider.

Chennai hotelier link between Vindu, bookies
Chennai: Tamil Nadu police have revealed that hotelier Vikram Agrawal and arrested actor Vindu Dara Singh allegedly formed the link between CSK owner Gurunath Meiyappan and the bookies. Confessions linking Srinivasan’s son-inlaw and Chennai Super Kings principal with the duo and, in turn, with those who placed bets would make for a strong case for Mumbai police.

A highly placed source investigating the scandal told TOI that the Mumbai police had made Agrawal an offer he could not refuse. “It is the prerogative of the investigating agency to name someone as an accused or a witness. By making Agrawal a witness, he escapes prosecution and the consequences of the case. The agency stands to gain by getting a wealth of evidence without much effort,” the source said.

DGP Singh said, “Agrawal made frequent calls to at least eight numbers, one of which is in the name of AVM (Meiyappan’s company),” Singh said. He said the police were investigating if any of the other numbers were used by Vindu. The police believe Vindu introduced Agrawal to Meiyappan. The investigators are now analysing the timing and duration of the calls.

Agrawal, it turns out, had made arrangements for free at his five-star hotel at Egmore for Kitty. “Kitty used a room in the hotel as his virtual office,” said an investigator. “There was a big screen television, a computer and several mobile phones. There is nothing in the hotel records so far that show Kitty paid the room rent. This means he was Agrawal’s guest.”
Courtesy:
Arun Ram TNN
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ICC official ‘Terry’ had warned Guru about betting, claim Mumbai police

Mumbai: Another startling piece of information tumbled out in the IPL spot-fixing scandal on Friday. An ICC official, known as ‘Terry’, had warned CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan that the latter was under surveillance for betting, Mumbai police officials said.
    Sources said Terry is either a South African or a British national and part of the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) unit of the international cricket body. “We are trying to establish Terry’s identity before speaking to ICC officials. If required, we will record their statement,” a senior police officer said.
    The ACSU keeps players, team members and umpires under surveillance in order to check malpractices in the game. Police said they are surprised that an ICC official directly got in touch with Gurunath instead of alerting BCCI. The board has denied receiving any alerts from ICC.
    During the interrogation Gurunath told police that Terry had warned him in April to steer clear of bookies after his alleged betting activities came to the notice of ACSU. However, he allegedly continued to place bets and shared the information about the warning with Vindu Dara Singh, police said. But Terry’s name did not figure in the intercepted conversations between Gurunath and Vindu.
    Some television channels said that the transcripts spoke about spot-fixing and the number of runs to be scored in a particular over. But crime branch officials denied this. “Over the phone, Gurunath and Vindu mainly discussed money to be placed as bets. They spoke about placing bets in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh on various teams. There was no talk of either spot-fixing or match-fixing,”’ the official said.

SECRET WARNING?
In April, an official named Terry from ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit warns Guru to steer clear of betting
Guru continues betting and shares warning info with Vindu
Mumbai police surprised that ICC official spoke directly to Guru instead of alerting BCCI
Board denies getting any such input from ICC
Cops say Srinivasan probably unaware of ICC warning to son-in-law Guru’s no. in bookie Vyas’s call log
Vindu was in regular touch with bookie Ramesh Vyas who facilitated conference calls between India and Pakistan bookies. Police found that Gurunath’s number figured in the call log records. Vyas is under arrest and his bail application will be heard on Saturday. Police said Gurunath’s father-in-law and BCCI president N Srinivasan was probably unaware about the warning. “There is nothing to indicate that he knew about his son-in-law’s activities. At this stage we do not intend to question Srinivasan. The focus of our case is betting where Gurunath is an accused,’’ the official added.
Courtesy:
(With inputs from agencies)
C Unnikrishnan and S Ahmed Ali TNN
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Game All But Over For Srinivasan

Six Days After BCCI Boss Declared He Had Board’s Unanimous Support, He’s Running Out Of Partners His No. 2 And No. 3 Quit, Several More Top Officials Expected To Follow Suit
    BCCI president N Srinivasan was left reeling on the ropes on Friday after a series of punishing body blows through the day. In the morning, Sachin Tendulkar issued a strongly-worded statement terming the developments of the last two weeks “shocking and disappointing”. But worse was to follow. In the evening, BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke both submitted their resignations, taking the anti-Srinivasan momentum to a whole new pitch and leaving him virtually isolated within the board he ostensibly heads.
    It now appears certain that almost all senior board officials will put in their papers on Saturday if Srinivasan doesn’t agree to step aside voluntarily. A highly-placed board official told TOI, “Some of us will talk to him in the morning and request him yet again. But if he remains adamant, we’ll resign.”
    Even now, with the effective No. 2 and No. 3 in the BCCI resigning, the board is virtually crippled. It is unlikely that anyone will agree to step into their roles under such controversial circumstances. Clearly, Srinivasan’s chances of riding out this storm are receding by the moment.
    Sources within the BCCI said that board members had been trying to get Srinivasan to call an emergency meeting of the working committee for the last three days. However, his refusal to cooperate has forced their hand. They are said to have the support of the sponsors and IPL franchisees, who believe that the brand equity of IPL has taken a beating.
    The sources said that the last straw came on Thursday when Shirke bluntly asked Srinivasan when he planned to hold the working committee meeting. Srinivasan apparently sidestepped the issue, leaving Shirke fuming.
    Srinivasan is believed to have told the BCCI treasurer on Thursday that there was no tenable case against his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings principal Gurunath Meiyappan and that he expected the betting-fixing controversy to blow over soon. This convinced the board members that there was no hope of persuading Srinivasan to depart graciously and they would have to adopt pressure tactics. Resignations shock Srinivasan camp
    On Thursday night, Jaitley, IPL commissioner Rajeev Shukla and former BCCI chief Shashank Manohar are learnt to have spoken to key board members. It was then decided that Shirke, joint secretary Anurag Thakur and vice president Sudhir Dabir would be the first to quit. However, on Friday morning, it was decided that Jagdale and Shirke would resign first.
    “I don’t want to continue like this. I can’t sacrifice my image for BCCI. The entire board is being blamed for nothing. I can’t see this happening every day on a regular basis,” Shirke told TOI after resigning.
    Realising that the pressure couldn’t be warded off any more, Srinivasan finally agreed to hold a working committee meeting on June 8. But this was unacceptable to the board members, who saw it as a ploy by Srinivasan to play for time. They are now demanding that a meeting be held on Monday or Tuesday.
    The resignation of the two senior BCCI officials will only add to the pressure on Srinivasan.
    Their opposition to Srinivasan has been hardening ever since Jagdale-who has a reputation of being an efficient, clean administratorwas nominated to the threemember panel set up by BCCI to probe the fixing and betting racket without his consent.
    On Thursday, Jagdale wrote to Srinivasan, asking him to withdraw his name from the panel.
    Sources close to Jagdale told TOI that he believes there is little public confidence in the panel and he risked losing his own credibility by being associated with it. Jagdale’s move apparently sent shockwaves through the Srinivasan camp. After all, if the board’s own secretary was seen as being sceptical about the panel, its credibility would be seriously damaged even before it began work.
    According to BCCI sources, Srinivasan then pleaded with Jagdale to stay on the panel and promised to call a working committee meeting in three days to discuss and sort out all matters. Jagdale decided to hold back his withdrawal from the panel. However, when Srinivasan said he would hold the meeting on June 8, and not within three days as he had promised, it convinced his detractors that he was not serious about his promise to resolve matters and was simply trying to buy time. This led them to kick off the aggressive campaign against Srinivasan, which is expected to intensify over the weekend.
Courtesy:
Sumit Mukherjee, Ruchir Mishra, Shriniwas Rao, Amit Karmarkar TNN
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Savant: The right man to clean up BCCI’s financial mess

The new treasurer of the BCCI, Ravi Savant, a chartered accountant by profession, has been with the MCA for more than two decades. His immediate task would be to clean up the financial mess that the Board finds itself in, especially because the sums involved are humongous.

After the demise of MCA President Vilasrao D e s h - mukh, Savant became its president. Promptly, he focused on the grassroots problems facing Mumbai cricket and by working out various permutations and combinations, he, in consultation with other experienced members of the MCA, restructured the tournaments, a move which has been appreciated.

Interestingly, if you don’t count Sharad Pawar’s reign in the BCCI, Savant is the first MCA official to become an officebearer in the parent body in more than a decade. So what if it’s only for a few months, on an interim basis?

A club cricketer, Savant was always on the forefront in the legal battles that the MCA had to wage against the Garware Club. This was at a time when the MCA had virtually gone bankrupt. A loyalist of the Bal Mahaddalkar group, he was the member of the inquiry committee which banned five members, including three office bearers, for indulging in financial irregularities after the 1987 World Cup.

Since his appointment is only till the next BCCI elections, which will be in the last week of September, he will have to bring in financial discipline which is lacking at the moment. Savant will also have to crack the whip on certain associations which have tended to misuse the financial subsidy that the Board provides.

Whether he acts tough with these associations, most of which are headed by big politicians, is to be seen because the root of financial irregularities of subsidy has become endemic. All he will need is the support of president Jagmohan Dalmiya. The cleanup of the BCCI must begin on the financial front, making it transparent and also ensuring that the money is used only for the purpose of promoting the game.
Courtesy:
Makarand Waingankar
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Kundra’s lawyer blasts BCCI for ‘unjust decision’

Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra’s legal team have alleged bias and are preparing the ground to challenge BCCI’s decision to suspend him.

“This suspension order coming from BCCI is shocking and is most unjust,” advocate Majeed Memon, Kundra’s counsel, told TOI. The lawyer claimed that BCCI had not clarified the reason for suspending Kundra or if he had indeed breached any rules.

“Kundra is not charged with any minor or major criminal offence so far. There is no allegation that he has committed any crime, much less a serious one which entails suspension,” said Memon.

“Reference is being made to the Delhi police commissioner’s statement that during his questioning, Kundra had allegedly admitted that he had placed bets on stray occasions. However, the commissioner himself qualified his statement that there was no concrete evidence against Kundra or any corroborative proof that he has indulged in betting. Consequently, Kundra has not been charged with any crime as there is no case pending against him.”
Courtesy:
Shibu Thomas I TNN
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BCCI begins ‘operation clean-up’ - Kundra Suspended; Savant Is New Treasurer

New Delhi: The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has decided to suspend Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra from any ‘cricketing activity’ pending the outcome of an enquiry into the issue, even as interim board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya announced a series of proposed measures to remove ‘sleaze’ from the IPL following an emergent working committee meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

Kundra’s suspension comes after revelations by Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar that he had “confessed” to gambling on the IPL. The BCCI also decided to issue showcause notices to the jailed RR trio of Sreesanth (who was granted bail on Monday), Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila as Ravi Sawani’s report on the spot-fixing scam was forwarded to the Board’s disciplinary panel.

Meanwhile, the Board also announced Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Ravi Savant as the new treasurer. TOI had reported on Saturday how the board might hand out a suspension order to Kundra. “Kundra has been suspended pending enquiry from participation in cricket activities under the aegis of BCCI,” joint-secretary of the board Anurag Thakur said.

When asked if the Rajasthan Royals ownership could be terminated if Kundra was found guilty — as per the franchisee agreement clause No. 11.3 (c) — BCCI vice-president Niranjan Shah added: “We will see how it goes. I can’t comment at this stage since the investigation is going on.”

However, sources insisted that if Kundra is found guilty, he may be asked to forfeit his 11.7% share in the Royals and a heavy fine may be imposed on the team. A worst-case scenario, sources insisted, was the termination of the franchise itself. “As per the rule, both Royals and CSK should be terminated. The Royals also have a disadvantage over CSK since their players are involved in spot-fixing,” a well-placed source added.

Kundra immediately issued a statement saying he was being made a “scapegoat” and accused the BCCI of making “all sorts of allegations without proof”. Kundra said since he was an NRI, he could bet through legal channels if he wanted to. “It shocks, saddens and hurts me when my integrity towards sport is questioned. All sorts of accusations were made against me without proof by people in powerful positions. It is sad that without accurate facts, I am being made a scapegoat and put under trial by the media based on unproved claims,” he said.

“People need to realize that as a British national and NRI, If I wanted to bet I could have done so off-shore on any betting website legally. However I did not do so as the IPL contract as per ACSU rules clearly states that owners cannot bet on the IPL,” Kundra’s statement added.

The board also announced that the committee comprising of Justice R Balasubranian and Jayaram T Chouta would probe both the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals’ involvement in betting and spot-fixing.

‘Removing sleaze’
Meanwhile, Dalmiya — based on suggestions from various working committee members —suggested 16 points to “remove sleaze” from the IPL. However, no decision was taken on doing away with strategic timeouts. “We have to involve different stakeholders before taking a call on this,” a source said.

“The working committee decided to take measures to clean up Indian cricket. Suggestions will be invited from all quarters, including franchisees, to ensure that the IPL is conducted in the best possible manner. A separate working committee meeting will be held soon to finalize the action plan,” said Thakur. The suggestions given by Dalmiya will be discussed with the working committee members again and will be then posted on the BCCI website. The BCCI will also take suggestions from the public before taking a final call and making it a law.

The board has proposed doing away with cheerleaders and after-match parties. Players and franchises may both be asked to provide full disclosure of their financial dealings.
Courtesy:
Indranil Basu | TNN
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SPOT-FIXING SCANDAL - Sreesanth, Chavan and 17 others get bail

New Delhi: Delhi police suffered a huge setback as a trial court on Monday granted bail to 19 accused, including Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and 14 bookies, in the IPL spot-fixing scandal on Monday, after finding “no sufficient material” against them under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Additional Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Khanna said, “There is no reason for believing that the accused are guilty under the MCOCA at this stage. There are allegations of betting by bookies and fixing by players for benefiting the syndicate... After probing into the matter deeply and going into the materials placed before the court, this court finds that there is no sufficient material on record to establish that there is a nexus of accused with the organised crime syndicate,” the judge said while granting bail to the accused on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount. Imposing certain conditions, the court directed the accused to submit their passports before it and asked them not go out of India without prior permission. All the accused are at present in Tihar Jail and are likely to be released on Tuesday.

Besides the 19 who were granted bail by the court, six others are now in judicial custody till June 18 while one of the alleged bookies, Ramesh Vyas, is in police custody till June 18. Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila and six others have not yet applied for bail.

The court said it is prima facie not satisfied with the allegation that offences punishable under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC are made out against the accused at this stage. It also said it is also not satisfied that “culpability and mens rea (guilty mind)” is made out against the accused. The court said the accused persons are not “habitual offenders” and have clean antecedents and they are not likely to flee from justice.

Apart from the two cricketers, the court granted bail to bookies Ashwani Aggarwal, Amit Gupta, Ajay Goyal, Sunil Saxena, Bhupender Nagar, Chandresh Patel, Dipit Garg, Kiran Dole, Manan Bhat, Mohd Yahiya, Nitin Jain, Jiju Janardhan, Ramakant Aggarwal and Syed Durry Ahmed. The others who have been granted bail are Vikas Choudhary, a bouncer, businessman Vinod Sharma, and one Manish.
Courtesy:
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Need to establish Victor’s link with Gurunath, Vindu: Cops

Chennai: Tamil Nadu CBCID, probing the IPL betting case, got a step closer to BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-inlaw, Gurunath Meiyappan, by arresting his hotelier friend, Vikram Agrawal. But Victor, as he is known in betting circles, is turning out to be a tough nut to crack.

    The first day of Agrawal’s interrogation on Monday didn’t yield much, and the officers would now try for his custody for 10 days when he is produced before a magistrate on Tuesday morning, an officer told TOI. “He is tough and tactical,” said the officer. “He seems to have used all this time to train himself to face the interrogation. We will need at least a week to crack him.”

The source said Meiyappan is their “next logical stop,” and probes into joint operations of the Gurunath-Vindu-Agrawal triangle could take the investigation to newer directions and bigger fish.

They wouldn’t seek Meiyappan’s interrogation till they extract more evidence from Agrawal linking Meiyappan and Vindu. So far, the investigators have collected evidence to show that Agrawal had made more than 80 calls to Meiyappan during IPL 6. They have also got electronic evidence of interactions between Agrawal and actor Vindu Dara Singh.

The sleuths’ strategy is to confront Agrawal with this evidence and, if he remains unyielding, book him also for financial fraud and tax evasion with the assistance of income tax department. This, they plan to do by cornering Agrawal on why he allotted a room in his hotel for bookie Uttamlal Jain alias Kitty to operate during IPL matches. “While employees’ statements and electronic entry records suggest Kitty used the room, there is no entry of such a guest in the records. This means he was allowed to stay there free. And that’s a strong additional case,” an officer said. The investigators believe Agrawal’s involvement was much deeper. He facilitated betting during IPL matches. He was in constant touch with Meiyappan, who introduced Vindu to the hotelier.

TN police arrest Chennai-based hotelier after three summons Chennai:After delaying the inevitable for over 10 days, Chennai hotelier Vikram Agrawal walked into the CB-CID office in Chennai on Monday to be arrested in the IPL betting case. Agrawal, known as Victor in betting circles, responded to the third summons from the CB-CID and presented himself before the investigation officers at 10.05am. More than nine hours of questioning later, he was declared arrested at 7.15pm. Having been booked for gambling, cheating and criminal conspiracy, Agrawal will now be questioned on his links with CSK principal Gurunath Meiyappan and actor Vindu Dara Singh who were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch police. “Agrawal had given a room in his hotel (room no. 724) for bookies to operate a betting syndicate. He knew about the playing conditions before IPL matches and had details of some players,” said deputy superintendent of police S Venkatraman. — A Selvara
Courtesy:
Arun Ram & A Selvaraj TNN
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CRICKET IN A SPOT - Over 200cr hawala deal in IPL matches

New Delhi: Delhi police investigations into the spot-fixing scandal have revealed that hawala transactions worth over Rs 100 crore for normal matches and Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore for high-profile IPL matches were taking place, said highly placed sources.

Officials say after giving the money to the beneficiaries and commission of the bookies, the remaining proceeds, which still would be in several crores, used to be transferred to D-Company directly through a chain of hawala dealers. Sources say the hawala dealers working for Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Shakeel are based in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, Nagpur and other places.

The Mumbai-based bookie – Ramesh Vyas – is being interrogated by the special cell on these aspects as he was the main link apart from Ashwini Aggarwal alias Tinku Mandi, who was in direct touch with the underworld don’s associates in Dubai and Pakistan.

Sources say Vyas is trying to minimize his role and is proving to be a hard nut to crack. The cops are planning to confront him with Ashwini Aggarwal alias Tinku Mandi. Mandi, officials say, used to talk to close associates of Dawood as well. “They both are important underworld and money transactions link in this whole spot-fixing scandal. They are the ones who know how the money was being channelized,” said a source. Enforcement Directorate is likely to also interrogate the two bookies — Vyas and Mandi.

Ramesh Vyas used code names while talking to D-Company men in Dubai and Pakistan like ‘master’ and ‘doctor’, and gave them numbers like ‘one’ ‘two’ and ‘three’, to avoid taking their real names, said sources. Officials say they want the whole hawala link probed because Dawood Ibrahim has been made accused in this case and to prove MCOCA on the arrested cricketers and bookies, they will have to complete the underworld chain.
Courtesy:
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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