IPL scam: Six bookies arrested in Goa

New Delhi/Panaji : Six bookies allegedly involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing scandal were arrested by Goa Police Monday. Delhi Police picked up another two bookies from Hyderabad and one from Greater Noida late evening.

“Ketan Chavera, Amit Papat, Ritesh Patel, Paresh Asad Kota, Sandeep Asad Kota and Nikunj Lalan were arrested from a beach resort in Candolim after the Delhi Police intimated the Goa Police about them hiding there,” said a Delhi Police officer.

“The bookies’ names surfaced during the interrogation of Tinku Mandy, a bookie in custody of Delhi Police. Mandy identified the bookies from a CCTV footage provided by Goa Police and the raid was conducted,” the officer said.

In a late evening raid, Delhi Police arrested two bookies – Syed Ahmed and Sunil Saxena – from Hyderabad and Bhupendra Singh Nagar from Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Their names were revealed by other co-accused, the officer said.

The arrests in Goa came after the questioning of Mandy who was caught May 15 midnight along with Rajasthan Royals players S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila and 10 other bookies from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Five others were arrested later in the spot fixing scandal.

All the arrested bookies are from Mumbai and were involved in taking bets through the high profile league’s matches, including the final match between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings held in Kolkata Sunday night.

“They had been camping in Goa for about 45 days to collect bets for the IPL,” Goa Police Inspector Nilesh Rane said.

The IPL lasted for 45 days. The bookies had gone to Goa from Mumbai.

“Four laptops, 44 mobile phones, an Apple i-Pad, an LCD TV, four mobile phone charging boards with 40 sockets, a printer and a mobile phone signal booster were recovered from their possession,” according to the police.

Goa’s Deputy Inspector General of Police O.P. Mishra told reporters in Panaji that Mumbai police would be contacted to find out if the arrested bookies have a prior record or arrests.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police have claimed credit for the arrests in Goa.

Delhi Police started the chain of raids on bookies across the country last week by arresting the three Rajasthan Royals players.

Delhi Police had shown some photographs taken from the CCTV footage provided by Goa Police to Mandy and he identified the six bookies.

Goa Police sources confirmed that the lead for the raid was provided by a Delhi Police team, which landed in Goa last week.

Goa Police, however, claim that the arrests have nothing to do with Delhi Police, although Mishra admitted that a Delhi Police team was in Goa to track a bookie operation.

“This was our information. The Delhi Police team is also in Goa. Whenever they ask for co-operation, they are provided with it,” Mishra said.

Mishra said the bookies had rented a villa for Rs.2 lakh in Candolim, a popular beach village, 15 km from Panaji.

“They had been staying in Goa for over 45 days and had been accepting bets on most IPL matches, including the final. For the final, they were accepting bets on both teams,” Mishra said.

Police also said they have received the raw footage of all the 16 matches played by Rajasthan Royals from official IPL broadcaster SetMax for further examination.

Asked about the involvement of some more players, sources said prima facie they have “found something” against them but they do not have enough evidence as of now to arrest them.

“We have crossed the first hurdle. But that’s not enough,” a Goa Police official said

A total of 19 people have been arrested so far by Delhi Police in the spot fixing case in which 14 people have been sent to judicial custody and others are still on police remand.