MUMBAI, Sept 21:
BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was today chargesheeted by Mumbai Police in the IPL betting case for criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery in a blow to him days ahead of the Cricket Board’s AGM where he intends to seek a year’s extension.
Apart from Meiyappan, former Team Principal of IPL franchise Chennai Superkings, owned by Srinivasan’s India Cements, actor and reality TV star Vindoo, and 20 others have been made accused in the case. 35-year-old Meiyappan was arrested on May 25 and he was granted bail on June 3 along with Vindoo.
Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, 15 alleged bookies from that country and eight others have been shown in the 11,609-page charge sheet filed in the court of additional chief metropolitan Magistrate Uday Padwad as wanted accused.
Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner Himanshu Roy told reporters that investigations in the case showed that 40 SIM cards were purchased using fake documents. The list of wanted accused also included bookies from the UAE, he said, adding police examined 205 witnesses and seized 150 mobile phones among other equipments.
The charge sheet, according to Crime Branch sources, has enclosed forensic reports containing call data records of various conversations between the bookies, Vindoo, son of late wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh, and Meiyappan.
Meiyappan and others have been charged under IPC Sections 465 (forgery), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 490 (breach of contract), 420 (cheating), 212 (harbouring the offender), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Besides these, they have also been charged under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, sections 4 and 5 of the Gambling Act.
All accused have been charged only for betting and not spot-fixing the IPL matches.
Srinivasan was forced to step aside as BCCI chief amid a massive uproar after the spot fixing and betting scandal broke out in May this year, but he has remained defiant and expressed his intention to seek a one-year extension as the top-most cricket administrator at the Annual General Meeting of the Cricket Board on September 29.
The Tamil Nadu strongman sought to distance himself from his controversial son-in-law.
“I have always maintained that if Gurunath is wrong then the law will take its own course. You people must realise that I am not disqualified at all…,” Srinivasan said in Chennai.
“Why should I step aside? I am not disqualified and neither can you push me out,” a combative Srinivasan told reporters in Chennai when asked whether he would step aside following the charge sheet against Meiyappan.
According to the charge sheet, Meiyappan used to pass on privileged information he had as a top CSK official to Vindoo about the pitch, weather conditions, team details and strategy. These informations received from Meiyappan right from the stadia, were forwarded to bookies, including key ones like Sanjay and Pawan Jaipur.
Vindoo used mobile phones–9967949991, 9867126666 to place bets on behalf of Meiyappan.
The charge sheet said on May 12 at 12.12 am, Vindoo called Meiyappan from cell phone 9967949991 during a CSK and Rajasthan Royals match and he placed a huge bet on it.
Again, at 4 pm on May 15 Vindoo spoke to the Jaipur brothers and told them about a match involving Kolkata Knight Riders. Meiyappen, according to the charge sheet, had predicted a KKR win and that happened.
The charge sheet says Vindoo and Rauf spoke at least 80 times over phone between April 12 and May 13.
In one of the recordings, Vindoo and Rauf were heard discussing the delivery of a gold chain by the Jaipur brothers. In another recording between Rauf and one of the Jaipur brothers, the Pakistani umpire were being advised to destroy two SIM cards delivered by one Mahesh Mishra.
The charge sheet said Rauf violated the IPL code of conduct when at 10 pm on May 12 during a match Vindoo accepted a bet on his behalf.
On May 15, before an encounter between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, Rauf advised Vindoo to bet heavily on the Mumbai team. “Aaaj zindagi ki haar jeet kar lo (this is the bet of your life),” Rauf told Vindoo. Mumbai Indians indeed won the match.
Speaking to the media after the charge sheet was filed, Himanshu Roy, the Mumbai Crime Branch Chief, said the investigators had submitted to the court details of four CCTV footages, 150 mobile phones, three iPads, 40 SIM cards, 12 voice samples.
He said Rs 1.29 crore was seized from the accused.
The scam came to light when police arrested bookies Ramesh Vyas, Ashok Vyas and Pandurang Kadam from the city in May and recovered 92 mobile phones, 18 SIM cards, a laptop among other equipment. Thirty of these phones were used to facilitate contacts with bookies in India, Pakistan and Dubai through conference calls made by Vyas.
As the probe progressed, Vindoo’s name surfaced and he told the police during interrogation that he was in touch with several bookies as also Meiyappan on whose behalf also he placed bets.
Meiyappan’s arrest after a three-hour grilling by the Crime Branch threw Indian cricket into a turmoil with demands being made for Srinivasan to step down. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel