IPL betting: Police certain of distant, but clear, Dawood connection
What's the story
Senior inspector Pradeep Sharma of Thane Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC), who is investigating IPL betting scam, said on Monday that there was a distant but clear Dawood Ibrahim connection in the scam. In a major breakthrough, a few days back the AEC had nabbed a bookie, Sonu Jalan, and unearthed the connection between bookies and celebrities, including Arbaaz Khan. Sharma revealed the syndicate is run by two Dawood aides.
The revelations
Dawood's aides ran syndicate from Pakistan
Police investigation revealed that Jalan headed the Indian leg of the global syndicate, which was run by Dawood's aides- Ethesam and Doctor (an alias) from Pakistan. The involvement of Bhopal-based bookie Munir Khan and Chirag Vallav, a native of Borivali, Mumbai, was revealed. Both stay in Dubai. They placed their bets with Dubai based Anil Kothari, who is handled by aforementioned Dawood's aides.
The way forward
Police plans to approach Interpol through CBI
Police are trying to invoke Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case, to garner more information on the syndicate, that has its centre in Pakistan. "We have already sent a proposal to the home department about invoking MCOCA," Sharma said. He said police will use CBI's help to approach Interpol to issue Red Corner Notices (RCN) to bring bookies to India.
Looking back
Arbaaz Khan had admitted to his involvement in IPL betting
During police interrogation, Arbaaz Khan confessed he was involved in IPL betting, in the previous seasons. Khan knew Jalan for five years and later the bookie started blackmailing him and asked the star to pay Rs. 2.83 crore. Though the investigation is on, police haven't been able to establish if the syndicate was involved in match-fixing or spot-fixing.