Mumbai: Recalling the investigations into the 2013 IPL betting scandal that led to Gurunath Meiyappan, crime branch officers said his role was ultimately revealed after examining a long series of call data records between bookies, Ramesh Vyas, Sanjay and Pawan Jaipur and Vindoo Dara Singh.
It was Singh’s phone that showed calls and messages exchanged between him and Meiyappan. (Photo: PTI)
Between late April and early May, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had identified a number that was observed to be in touch with numbers based in Pakistan and Dubai and later passed on the information to the Delhi police’s special cell, the Maharashtra ATS and the Mumbai crime branch.
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While the number was being discreetly monitored by the three agencies, the city crime branch narrowed down on bookie Ramesh Vyas in the second week of May and reached his residence at Bhuleshwar near Girgaum.
Interestingly, during the raid, after he realised that the police are swooping in, Vyas shouted on the phone ‘bhaav ek rupaya’ (rate Rs.1), signaling other bookies and participants to instantly suspend all betting operations and go off their mobile phones.
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The instruction is a code word, which is understood only by those who are part of the betting world since bets are accepted at rates beginning from a paisa.
However, what was more shocking was the discovery of 22 conference calls — with majority of the numbers from Karachi and Dubai — connected on Vyas’s phone. One of the numbers figuring in the conference calls was traced to another big bookie, Delhi Mandi, who was eventually picked up by the special cell.
Mandi was found to have connections with cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila. The special cell then came down to Mumbai and picked up Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila.
Around the same time, the Mumbai crime branch had identified bookie brothers Sanjay and Pawan Jaipur while analysing Vyas’s call data records (CDR) and later on Singh.
Singh was subsequently arrested and the examination of his phone led to Meiyappan and Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, who had fled the country by catching a flight to Pakistan from Delhi sensing he too will be held soon.
