IPL spotfixing: Ramesh Vyas link turns fatal, Sreesanth faces MCOCA

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has sought the custody of the main bookie arrested by Mumbai Police, Ramesh Vyas, to prove its sensational claim that gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Shakeel are behind the IPL fixing scam. It had earlier said that its spot-fixing case had nothing to do with the Mumbai Police probe.

The Delhi Police alleges that Vyas, arrested a day before the Delhi Police swooped down on S Sreesanth and two other cricketers in Mumbai, was in "direct touch" with Dawood Ibrahim for fixing IPL betting rates.

Invoking stringent charges under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (Mcoca) against Sreesanth and 22 others arrested in its case, the Delhi Police told a court on Tuesday that Vyas was handled Dawood's betting syndicate in south India while a bookie arrested by Delhi Police, Ashwani Aggarwal handled it in north India.

Both bookies, who allegedly made calls to gangsters in Karachi and Dubai, were conveying Dawood's commands to the three arrested players, including Sreesanth, the police alleges. It has hence demanded from the court the custody of Vyas and also wants the Mumbai Police to send back Aggrawal who was handed over to them for interrogation.

Mcoca has been invoked on the premise that Vyas and Aggrawal were in touch with Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Shakeel who have a continuous record of organised crimes and commands of the gangsters were obeyed by the bookies and subsequently by the three IPL players.

Though the Mumbai Police mentioned the underworld connection in its case, it has not invoked Mcoca and its accused, including BCCI chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and actor Vindoo Dara Singh, have been granted bail on Tuesday.

But a Delhi court on Tuesday remanded Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila and others to judicial custody till June 18, after Mcoca was invoked. The three cricketers face the prospect of being named in a charge-sheet along with Dawood Ibrahim and a life sentence if convicted.