NeW Delhi, May 17 – Sometime in March, the Delhi Police put out a trace on certain numbers belonging to the underworld. This was done on a tip-off that a terror attack may be in the works. Over time, the special cell personnel heard the underworld talking to prominent bookies in India.
The essence of the conversations was that the IPL is a honey pot which needs to be exploited. So, Indian Premier League became Indian Punters League. One thing led to another and the police listening in stumbled on to a triangulated operation involving the underworld overseas, domestic bookies and players in the IPL. The biggest catch by far was S. Sreesanth, a man who has won matches for India at home and abroad.
As Neeraj Kumar, Delhi Police Commissioner, confirmed to Mail Today, “When we started, we didn’t ever expect this.” Mail Today has learnt that the original trace was on a Dubai number. From the tone and tenor of the conversations, it was clear that a bigger game was afoot. Bookies were kept under watch and when cricketers and their dirty deals involving spot-fixing emerged, the Delhi Police swooped down on the players and bookies. Three cricketers from the same table-topping team and 11 bookies including one of the lynch-pins – Manan – have been snared. Mind-boggling sums of money were at stake. Sreesanth got Rs.60 lakh for giving away 13 runs in an over, the bookie handling the deal made a whopping Rs.2.6 crore on that one over, Delhi Police sources have revealed.
With hundreds of hours of transcripts, the special cell will now start interrogating all 14 caught and try and piece together the syndicate which ran this South Asian operation with linkages to Dubai and Karachi. What is the modus operandi? Who are the people involved? Is it merely spot fixing or match fixing too? Incriminating conversations show that the rot runs deeper.
INDIA TODAY
