Top Mumbai bookies likely to be held soon

Some prominent bookies from Mumbai are likely to be arrested, following the information revealed by Vindoo Dara Singh, crime branch officials have said.

A top bookie from south Mumbai, whose name has surfaced, is likely to be picked up in the next few days. “This bookie is one of the top players in the business and has been arrested in the past,” sources said.

The police are also looking for bookies Lotus and Jupiter, and a red-corner notice has been issued against punters Pawan and Sanjay Jaipur, who escaped to Dubai with Vindoo’s help soon after the betting case was registered in Mumbai. Some masterminds of the betting syndicate are involved, with Vindoo acting as their front man, officials said.

Vindoo has told officials that he lured Chennai Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan into cricket betting and wanted to get him involved in spot-fixing, but that he was arrested before his plan could materialise.

“Meiyappan has told us that he is interested in racing [he is a national racing champion] and is a good golfer and that it’s only in the past two seasons that he has started participating in cricket, through CSK,” an officer said.

The police said Meiyappan claimed his understanding of cricket is limited and that Vindoo lured him into betting by showing it to be easy money. Vindoo allegedly made sure that Meiyappan won his bets initially and later gave him wrong information so that he lost more than Rs one crore. “Vindoo planned to ask Meiyappan to place bets for more than Rs two crore to recover losses.”