According to police sources, Meiyappan acknowledged knowing Vindu Dara Singh. Meiyappan allegedly said he had known Vindu — arrested for his alleged role as a middleman between teams, bookies and celebrities — for 10 years. Police sources claimed that he said that Vindu had insisted that he bet on matches, and he finally did so on a game held in Kolkata. The Chennai players apparently used to entertain Vindu as he was known to be Meiyappan's friend.
After three days of lying low, a grim-faced Meiyappan finally showed up before the Mumbai police crime branch on Friday evening, after his request to be allowed to appear on Monday was turned down. He was questioned late into the night by a team headed by joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy on whether he was linked to IPL betting and spot-fixing.
Through the day, there was speculation on whether he would be arrested. But police said it was too early to jump to any conclusions.
Police sources claimed to have evidence indicating that Meiyappan was closely associated with the recently busted betting syndicate. "After questioning him, we will decide whether to make him an accused in the case or a witness," an officer said.
Meiyappan was summoned for questioning after Vindu told the cops about his association with him. Vindu claimed he had placed bets on IPL 6 matches on behalf of Meiyappan, who apparently lost Rs 1 crore in the process.
Meiyappan had proved elusive for the police and media alike for the last few days. It turned up that he had been staying at the holiday home of his father-in-law N Srinivasan — the BCCI president and controlling shareholder of India Cements — in the picturesque Coaker's Walk area of Kodaikanal. Gurunath left the hill station around 1.30pm in a car and arrived at Madurai airport around 5pm. He was accompanied by two men, one of whom was BCCI counsel and former Tamil Nadu advocate general P S Raman.
He left for Mumbai at 5.25pm, about half an hour after the police's deadline had lapsed. "The private plane had obtained permission for departure between 5pm and 5.30pm. It left by 5.25pm," said an airport officer.
A battery of reporters was waiting at the airport entrance from 2pm. While the media was expecting Gurunath to arrive in the Landcruiser in which he had left Kodaikanal, he arrived at the airport in an Innova.
When the Landcruiser was spotted, media persons rushed toward it. Meanwhile, Gurunath, clad in jeans and a dark blue shirt, got out of the Innova and walked to the airport entrance.
Inputs from Vijay V Singh in Mumbai
0 comments:
Post a Comment