Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan named in IPL betting chargesheet

The 11,609-page chargesheet states how Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf not only leaked insider information about IPL matches to bookies but also placed bets himself.

The Mumbai Police Crime Branch filed chargesheets against 22 arrested accused and 24 wanted accused,which includes 16 Pakistani nationals.

Shekhar Gupta’s column: The giant fix

All accused have been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code for conspiracy,cheating,forgery,along with sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Gambling Act and the Information Technology Act.

All of them,including Meiyappan,were present in the court to collect a copy of their respective chargesheet.

The chargesheet includes statements from 205 witnesses,interrogation reports of 22 arrested accused,including bookies from Mumbai,Pune,Jaipur and Delhi.

Related: BCCI suspends Meiyappan

The police has recorded statements of four cricket enthusiasts who have claimed to have been cheated after watching the cricket match played on May 15 at Wankhede stadium. Of the 11,608 pages,nearly 8,000 pages comprise Call Data Records of the accused.

Apart from befriending Meyiappan and using him to get insider information about the IPL to use in betting,Vindoo is also alleged to have helped the Jaipur brothers — Pawan and Sanjay flee to Dubai when the crackdown started.

He acted as a host for the brothers,putting them up at the Novotel and the Oakwood hotels in western Mumbai,and dropped them off at the airport.

Aaj Zindagi ki haar-Jeet kar Lo Mumbai par : Rauf to Vindoo

Chennai Super Kingpin

CSK official Gurunath Meiyappan,according to the chargesheet,is alleged to have leaked crucial information about the strategy of his team and several other pieces of information about ongoing and future matches,and even using it for placing bets. This is one step short of fixing.

On May 12,for the match between Rajasthan Royals and CSK in Jaipur,Meiyappan allegedly told Vindoo Dara Singh that his team would make between 130 to 140 runs. CSK made a total of 141 runs and lost the match to RR. Meiyappan bet against his own team through Vindoo,who also bet his own money as well as passed on the information to bookies Pawan and Sanjay Jaipur. The Crime Branch has intercepts of conversations during the match where Meiyappan is heard saying that he has bet money on RR winning the match.

Earlier on the same day,Meiyappan is also heard instructing Vindoo based on “insider information”,including pitch conditions,about the Kolkata Knight Riders versus Royal Challengers Bangalore match.

On May 13,Meiyappan told Vindoo that he would give his inputs,which later turned out to be the information that Royal Challengers Bangalore would lose their next match. He also informed Vindoo that Sunrisers Hyderabad would win their match against Mumbai Indians,the chargesheet says.

Note: Mumbai Indians won this match. Keiron Pollard scored unbeaten 66 from 26 balls

Meiyappan is also alleged to have told Vindoo on May 14 that the match between CSK and Delhi Daredevils would not be held on that day as the stadium had not been granted a stability certificate.

Note: The match took place as per its schedule

On the same day,Vindoo called Meiyappan and told him to go mingle with the team so that he could get more such information. Meiyappan was relaxing on his yacht at the time,which angered Vindoo. “You are the boss. Go out there. What those people is thinking is I want exactly (sic),” Vindoo allegedly said to Meiyappan. In a separate conversation on the same day,Meiyappan told Vindoo that his team was going to win for sure,and that there were no further changes in the team.

Note: Chennai made at least one change. Albeit Morkel comes in for Chris Morris

Umpire on the run

Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf,named as an “absconding accused” in the chargesheet filed on Saturday,is one of the prime suspects to have allegedly violated several clauses of the IPL Code of Conduct by indulging in gambling,divulging information about the ground,pitch,weather,team composition,and accepting gifts.

Intercepts of cellular conversations between Rauf and bookie Vindoo Dara Singh show that at 1:29 pm on May 15,when a match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was scheduled,Rauf allegedly called up Vindoo and told him,“Aaj zindagi ki haar-jeet kar lo Mumbai par (You can bet your life on Mumbai Indians today).” Vindoo allegedly passed on the same information to bookie Pawan Jaipur,and told him,“Dada ko jo bhi gifts diye hain,aaj vasool ho jaayenge (We will get good returns for all the gifts we have given Dada (Rauf) today).”

Note: Mumbai won. A Crime Branch officer said that they were now examining footage of the match to see if the umpiring decisions that Rauf took looked suspicious.

The intercepts also show that there have been at least 80 conversations between Rauf and Vindoo between April 2 to May 17. The subjects of conversations range from exchanging of gifts to revealing information. According to the chargesheet,Rauf had accepted Rs. 2 lakhs given by Vindoo for “shopping”.

On May 12,Rauf allegedly told Vindoo that it would be a difficult pitch for the match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. In another instance,he asked Vindoo about the betting rates and even placed bets himself. On May13,he told Vindoo that he himself was umpiring on that day and also told him about the betting rates.

Note: After the Crime Branch arrested bookie Ramesh Vyas on May 15,Pawan Jaipur called Vindoo and asked him to tell Rauf to destroy the SIM cards that he was using,and Vindoo relayed the message. There are witnesses who have recognised Rauf’s voice,the chargesheet states.

— according to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch’s chargesheet