Rajasthan Royals paceman S. Sreesanth could be in fresh trouble. He could be made an accused in another case of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) currently being probed by the Mumbai police.
Joint Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy on Saturday said the Mumbai police may seek to interrogate Sreesanth after investigating details from his laptop and diary. Mr. Roy said the court had given the police permission to obtain a ‘mirror image’ of the laptop and Sreesanth’s mobile phone.
Sreesanth is now in Delhi police custody along with two franchisee colleagues.
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The Mumbai police on Friday night conducted a raid in a suburban five-star hotel. According to Mr. Roy, Sreesanth and his conduit Jiju Janardanan had booked a room each in the hotel and stayed there on the night of May 13.
The authorities had arrested three bookies from South Mumbai — Ramesh Vyas, Ashok Vyas and Pandurang Kadam — on May 14. They seized 92 mobile phones, 18 SIM cards, an account book, 13 papers mentioning the details of bookies, and six chequebooks and cash. Thirty of these mobiles were used by Ramesh Vyas to make phone calls to Pakistan and Dubai. He worked as a facilitator for bookies from India, Pakistan and Dubai. They were brought into contact through a conference call.
The noting made on Vyas’ papers mentions the names of ‘Tinku Delhi’ and ‘Jupiter’ who are wanted by the Mumbai police and are also named in the case of spot-fixing being probed by the Delhi police, in which the cricketer has been arrested. “These names are not only on the call list but also in account books and financial transactions,” claimed Mr. Roy.
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“We are going deep into the investigation and he [Sreesanth] might be booked if need be,” he said.
The police have recovered a laptop, an iPad, a blackberry mobile phone, one SIM card, a Tata Photon data card, three diaries, Rs.72,290 in cash and one U.S. dollar, along with clothes, from the cricketer’s room. A blackberry mobile phone, an iPad and clothes were recovered from the bookie’s room.
“We received information from our sources that the cricketer had independently booked a room in a five-star hotel [in the city], as his team was not staying in that hotel. The rooms were booked through Tamarind Tours and Travels. We have reasons to believe that he stayed in the hotel on May 13,” said Mr. Roy.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police have arrested a sixth bookie — 52-year-old Pankaj Dhanji Shah alias Lotus alias Babbu — from Mulund. He has been sent to police custody till May 22.