Vindoo glare on team boss - Call records also point to Bollywood star: Police

SAMYABRATA RAY GOSWAMI

Vindoo near MS Dhoni's wife Sakshi at an IPL match at Chennai in April Mumbai, May 22: A top executive in an IPL team, a cricket commentator and at least four Team India players have come under the widening investigation into the spot-fixing case. Sources said that it was not just police who were conducting the probe but also the enforcement directorate and income-tax officials in Mumbai. The police sources claimed that wrestler Dara Singh's son Vindoo, arrested yesterday, had admitted to playing bookmaker for Bollywood celebrities and at least one IPL team executive. Vindoo is also accused of acting as a middleman between bookies and his cricketer "friends". "Vindoo's call records reveal he was in very close touch with an IPL team's top boss and the brother of a Bollywood superstar on a regular basis, placing bets on their behalf," said Ambadas Pote, deputy commissioner (detection), crime branch. The sources alleged that the IPL franchise executive had even placed bets on his own team's and players' performances. The Bollywood superstar and his brother apparently met Vindoo at a five-star hotel a couple of times before handing him a large sum to be placed as bets on IPL matches. Several other Bollywood actors, directors, producers, singers and lyricists had placed bets through Vindoo on IPL games, the sources said. The investigators are probing whether any of them had placed unusually large bets that might indicate a hawala transaction. "Vindoo charges one per cent as his cut for every bet won, and has made Rs 17 lakh so far this season," said a source in the crime branch (property cell), which arrested Vindoo. He added that Vindoo had acknowledged at least 12 betting transactions involving spot-fixing this IPL season, each involving over Rs 1 crore. On May 15 night, after the news of Sreesanth's arrest broke, Vindoo allegedly picked up two top bookies — brothers Pawan and Sanjay "Jaipur" — and booked them into two five-star hotels in Mumbai. "On May 16, he arranged for their tickets to Dubai, drove them to the airport and saw them off," said a police source. After his arrest yesterday, Vindoo revealed he had been helping Delhi-based bookie Pranesh Taneja escape to Dubai from Mumbai that day, according to the source. The police reached the airport and took Taneja into custody before he could board his flight. A search of Vindoo's home today threw up three mobile phones belonging to Pawan "Jaipur", the police sources claimed. Vindoo has claimed he was introduced to betting by a friend, Anand, who used to be a bookie but is now a "reformed man", the sources said. Keen to bring Vindoo face to face with the bookies arrested in Mumbai and confront them with one another's confessions, the crime branch sought their remand in a Mumbai court this afternoon. But the judge sent the six bookies — Ramesh Vyas, Pandurang Kadam, Ashok Vyas, Neeraj Shah, Pravin Bora and Pankaj Shah alias Lotus — to judicial custody till June 5. "Despite ample opportunities provided, the investigating officer has not pointed out who has been cheated and why," said additional metropolitan magistrate M.N. Saleem. The bookies and Vindoo have been booked under the Information Technology Act, Bombay Gambling Prohibition Act and Indian Penal Code sections, including 420 (cheating) and 465 (forgery), which carry at best two or three-year terms. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130523/jsp/frontpage/story_16928919.jsp