Mehta was in regular touch with IPL bookies

He was accompanied by his family on Saturday afternoon. The police want to interrogate him and track down the wanted accused.

According to the remand copy,a technical analysis of Mehta aide Ramesh Vyas’ cellphone showed text messages sent to him by Mehta detailing bets of large amounts placed by the latter. The police said Mehta also regularly placed large bets with the wanted accused — most placed on behalf of builders in western India.

The police further said Mehta used three cellphones to accept and place bets. They have found one phone and are yet to recover the other. In a background check,the police found that one of the SIM cards was registered under a fictitious address in Dombivali. Mehta lives in an upscale apartment complex in Lower Parel. “Most of the calls were active in the Central belt and hardly did the phone cross to the far suburbs,” said an official adding that the records show that in most IPL matches Mehta was in the city with the calls running for hours.

The police will now investigate his links with the Pakistani bookies who Vyas was in touch with. Mehta,who the police said placed bets with arrested accused Tinku Delhi under the alias,has not been charged with fixing. “We are investigating whether Mehta was in touch with the foreign bookies linked with Vyas. We are also checking to see whether Mehta sent any money through a hawala transaction,” said a Crime Branch official.

In the raid that lasted 48 hours,the officers found it unusual that a few men would pick burgers from McDonalds and then parcel them every night to be taken to a nearby hotel. They kept a close watch for two days and suspected that Mehta was avoiding public space and had some of his trusted circle run food errands for him. His room had a ‘do not disturb’ sign for the entire time he was in the city. “He would place bets in the casino and return to the hotel in the middle of the night and would not come out even for food. His first response was to evade arrest by saying that the phones were not registered in his name,” said an official.

Mehta is believed to have been in touch with Pawan Jaipur and also met him in Dubai in the period that they were missing in May 2013 after IPL. The officials said they have zeroed in on some numbers that point to big punters who have taken maximum calls. In most of the calls placed by Vyas,Mehta has used a conference facility to connect with Pakistan based bookies.

“In the beginning of most important matches,the phone calls have showed a pattern of major bookies following his calls. Since it could be tedious to go through all calls across lines,for now our primary focus is to look at the links between Vyas,Mehta and Jaipur brothers and to derive the quantum of money placed between the three this season,” said an official. While most of the sections are for gambling,the police have involved cheating and a few other IPC and IT sections after it was found that Mehta’s three mobile numbers were procured on forged documents.