The interrogation of Chennai Super Kings’ ex-team principal B. Gurunath Meiyappan and Bollywood actor-cum-bookie Vindoo Dara Singh has revealed that the actor, along with other bookies, had been preparing Meiyappan to get involved in spot-fixing. The police said that the actor conspired with bookies and lured Meiyappan into betting and passing vital team information, with future plans of using him for spot-fixing.
A Mumbai crime branch official said, “So far, Meiyappan has placed bets only on 9 IPL matches this season. He had previously not bet on any matches.” In the first five bets that Meiyappan placed on RCB, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pune Warriors, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, he won. “He placed bets using tips given by Vindoo, but later, he lost four bets, including one where he lost around `1 crore. Vindoo initially told Meiyappan to recover the losses by placing more bets, but went on to instigate him to pass on vital team information, such as which player would not play due to injury, the batting-bowlers’ order, etc.,” the officer added.
“With the help of information provided by Meiyappan, Vindoo accordingly placed bets with Rajasthan-based bookie Pawan Jaipur and made a profit. Vindoo kept telling Meiyappan that whenever he passed his team’s information, they won their gamble, thus, slowly drawing and encouraging him to continue leaking the team strategy. It appears that he was actually preparing him to get involved in spot-fixing in the future, but before it could happen, we busted the module,” said PI Nandkumar Gopale of the property cell.
Additionally, the police on Saturday confronted Vindoo and Meiyappan to corroborate their claims and verify the authenticity of whatever the duo has told interrogators in custody. Sources said that Vindoo confirmed everything that Meiyappan has divulged till now. Meiyappan had earlier claimed that Vindoo was using him as a conduit to extract vital team information for the sole purpose of betting.