Published: Feb 12, 2014, 09:07 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 27, 2014, 11:03 PM (IST)
Chennai: Feb 12, 2014
The Tamil Nadu Q Branch police’s finding allegedly implicating Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Chairman N Srinivasan‘s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, a Chennai based hotelier Vikram Agarwal and an “important” Indian player, also hints at probable foreign links in the suspected match fixing scandal.
In his deposition before the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Mudgal Committee, G Sampath Kumar, formerly Superintendent of Police, Q Branch had said that Vandana Vikram and Kitty [Uttam Jain alias Kitty, a Chennai based bookie] were suspected to be having strong UAE and Singapore links.
The official made the deposition on January 19 in Bangalore. “I was summoned by the panel. After instructions from my chief, I deposed before it and told them all that I knew,” Sampath Kumar told PTI.
The Q Branch police initially investigated the case before it was transferred to the CB-CID.
“As is known, both at least have a common friend in UAE who is probably using the number 971563545777.” A detailed study of the numbers used by the persons “may substantiate or otherwise” the points raised above. The official lists many international phone numbers under the “probable abroad links; Australian links” sub-heading inluding the number 61403919733.
Also, in his deposition the official says that Vikram and Kitty had carried out a “transaction” at a hotel in Chennai on the night of April 27, 2013.
“Kitty spoke about this meeting at Q Branch CID office on 23 May 2013. He stated that in this meeting he came to know Meyappan said to Vikram that CSK player……. agreed to score 140 runs and to lose in the match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Jaipur on May 12 2013. This was communicated to Sanjay of Rajasthan over phone by Vikram,” the deposition reads.
The Mudgal Committee sought further investigations into the match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan held in May 2013.
The panel also accused Tamil Nadu Q Branch Police for not providing the copy of interrogation report on bookie Uttam Jain alias Kitty.
“On the issue of whether Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan was involved in match fixing and spot fixing, the issue has not been investigated thoroughly by the ICC-ACSU, BCCI’s ACU or the CB-CID of the Chennai Police even though some information was available for such an investigation to be conducted,” the panel had said in its report.
