The spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League turned murkier with the names of global terrorist and India's most wanted man Dawood Ibrahim and his close aide Chotta Shakeel surfacing in the case.
The Delhi Police on Tuesday slapped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the 26 accused, including three cricket players of Rajasthan Royals, and claimed bookies like Ashwini Aggarwal were working at the behest of Dawood gang.
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The police claimed they were armed with enough evidence and telephone intercepts to prove in the court that the bookies had made use of the underworld network in fixing IPL matches.
A top police official associated with the probe said they had enough telephonic intercepts which showed the bookies had made calls to Dubai, Karachi and other cities of Pakistan to fix and alter betting rates.
As the Delhi Police had ensured that the accused in the case would not get bail easily by slapping MCOCA, its investigation is on to nab a Hyderabad-based person who could lead to the door of another cricket team whose players were allegedly involved in spot fixing.
A hunt has been launched for apprehending this person who was named by bookie Mohammed Yahya, arrested in Hyderabad, during his questioning, the police officials said.
A senior police official said Section III and IV of MCOCA has been invoked against the accused in the spot-fixing scandal.
According to the official, they have a "fit case" to invoke the stringent law in the case as it satisfies the conditions for doing so.
"There is an organised crime syndicate from the underworld to bookies to players acting in tandem. In this case, force and threat, besides coercion, are used against players and one of the arrested has two cases which the court has taken cognizance of.
"Also, the accused have gained moneterarily," the official said.
Asked to elaborate, the official said one of the arrested bookies had threatened a player.
"The bookie told the player that he will teach him a lesson when he comes to Mumbai," the official said adding the same bookie has two cases which the court has taken cognizance of.
The Delhi Police also moved the court seeking production warrant of Ramesh Vyas, arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with a case of betting.
