One 2 ka four

From the room, they will stay in touch. JK and his team fill a cup with pre-paid mobile phone SIM cards 8212; upto 50 8212; and randomly change cards to stay a step ahead of the police who step up monitoring during cricket matches.

The room could be in a three-star hotel, a five-star hotel; it all depends on the kind of business he8217;s expecting. Once they8217;re ensconced, the game will begin. Someone will call and say he8217;s putting Rs 1 lakh on India scoring 50 runs in the next 10 overs.

JK will take the bet if he can cover it. If it8217;s in crores, something beyond him, he8217;ll change his SIM card and ask someone bigger to cover it for, say, maybe one per cent of the takings.

BADA IDLI, COME BACK

So far, JK is apprehensive. His big opportunity is only two weeks away but the anchor his business depends on is gone. Bada Idli 8212; the name the underworld gave Sharad Shetty 8212; is gone. Slain in Dubai last week in the gang wars between dons Dawood Ibrahim of Dubai fame and Chhota Rajan of no-fixed-address fame, Shetty will end his journey in his native, palm-fringed land of Udipi on the Karnataka coast.

Yes, JK is nervous. Shetty, he says, was the anchor of India8217;s sleazy betting and match-fixing business. He was the go-between to reach the people who place the really large bets. He was also the one who managed the international operations 8212; like a CEO 8212; and he was the one who told people like JK, 8216;8216;Let the game begin.8217;8217;

JK is a book-maker operating from a Mumbai suburb 8212; he would rather you not identify it 8212; and he is worried that without Shetty, the bookie network will not get started in time. Still, he believes some one will step in, someone always does. After all, like water, the business of betting will find its own level. There is just too much at stake. 8216;8216;A one-day match between two important cricket-playing countries could mean a turnover of Rs 300 crore,8217;8217; explains JK.

Across town at police headquarters, senior officers will tell you that8217;s about right. There are, of course, no figures, only guesstimates. But the World Cup in South Africa could mean a turnover of somewhere around Rs 10,000 crore 8212; if the bookies and the underworld gets its act together. Shetty8217;s assassination apart, the man the police identify as India8217;s top bookmaker, Shoban Kalachowky, is nervously wandering about in Mumbai under police protection. Shetty8217;s master, Dawood, ordered a sauda fok no payment order against Kalachowky after a soured deal in 1999.

There8217;s more. These are times of terrorism and religious strife, all complicating factors in the previously transnational, secular world of betting. So, at police headquarters, you will hear how the crime branch has arrested five key bookies for using their betting networks to deal with counterparts in Pakistan, some with underworld links. Kothari, Hitesh Thane, Ramji Thane, Virendra Borivali 8212; if you8217;re wondering about their names, they get them from the places they work in 8212; and Samrat. Top gun Kalachowky himself was called in for questioning.

In the underworld, the word is that the mastermind of the hit on Shetty, Chhota Rajan, has warned anyone from taking the Udipi boy8217;s place. But Rajan himself, an underworld source insists, hasn8217;t named anyone for the job.

Who will be king?

The times were never this uncertain, but everyone is certain that it will all come together. Ask the police themselves.

8216;8216;The Mumbai police will try to keep these bookies on tenterhooks,8217;8217; says joint commissioner of police crime, Shridhar Vagal. 8216;8216;But it is a very difficult job.8217;8217;

Many bookies are confident that they will pull through, that business will get started. 8216;8216;It may take a few week for the dust to settle, but the vacuum will be filled,8217;8217; remarks a bookie operating from Navi Mumbai. Bookies, he says with confidence in the course of a phone interview, 8216;8216;will start receiving calls soon.

So who will head the bookies?

Will it be Dawood8217;s bete noir Rajan?

There8217;s no clarity on that yet. After all, there8217;s an army of 500 bookies and punters in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. Many are backed by the underworld. Across India, an army of a few thousand bookies and punters are doubtless collecting those SIM cards in anticipation of the windfall.

Earlier, there were only about six main bookies. Today there are over 100. The numbers of big-time punters could run into thousands and there are lakhs of small-time gamblers on the lower end of the betting cycle.

Dawood8217;s right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel, is known to pool between Rs 20 crore and Rs 25 crore on matches through cronies, says a police source. This is an investment that could fetch him a cool Rs 75 crore per match. A top police officer says Shetty himself could be worth Rs 1,000 crore, much of it coming from cricket8217;s seamy underbelly.

Fixing matches isn8217;t an easy task though, as always, the bookies insist it can be done. 8216;8216;All you need is connections at a higher level and some reputed persons who can introduce you to cricketers,8217;8217; boasts a Delhi bookie. 8216;8216;After a few meetings, one usually makes an offer, which is rejected or accepted.8217;8217;

Not surprisingly, the International Cricket Council8217;s anti-corruption unit is now taking a first-hand look at keeping the sleaze out of cricket. The unit has recommended tight security around players, banning 8216;8216;unauthorised8217;8217; people from dressing rooms, and a ban on cell phones.

In the end, insiders say that though betting rates may be fixed as far afield as London or Dubai 8212; with international money laundering rampant 8212; the nerve centre remains in Mumbai and its humming betting rooms.

So JK waits. His apprehensions haven8217;t gone, but he knows that someone will step in for Shetty. After all, it8217;s a big world out there and one idli 8212; however big 8212; is eventually going to be replaced.