A local court rejected the Mumbai crime branch's plea to extend the custody of CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan, Bollywood actor Vindoo Randhawa and two others arrested in the IPL betting case and remanded them in judicial custody till June 14.
The court observed that there is no ground made out for their further police custody.
"There is no further ground made out for police custody of the accused and they are remanded in judicial custody," observed additional metropolitan magistrate M N Saleem.
The court remanded Meiyappan, Vindoo, Alpesh Kumar Patel, a hawala operator, and Prem Taneja, a conduit for bookies, in judicial custody till June 14.
Public prosecutor Kiran Bendbar told the court that further custody of the accused is required for tracing the absconding bookies and to find out about their financial transactions.
However, defence counsels told the court that enough custody has been given to the police and now they can be remanded in judicial custody.
After the court's order, the defence counsels of the accused moved their bail applications, which will be heard later in the day.
Meiyappan, the 35-year-old top honcho of IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was arrested on the night of May 25 for his alleged involvement in the IPL betting scandal.
He was in the eye of a storm after actor and TV reality show winner Vindoo, arrested on May 22 for his alleged links with bookies, admitted to having placed bets on his behalf.
Photograph: Sahil Salvi
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