Gurunath Meiyappan has allegedly told Mumbai crime branch investigators that a member of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit had warned him before the start of IPL-6 to be cautious. Mr Meiyappan has revealed the name of the ACSU official to crime branch officers. However, the police has not disclosed the name as the information is yet to be verified.
A security agency, while keeping a tab on communications between bookies in India with bookies in Pakistan and Dubai, had stumbled upon Vindoo Dara Singh’s alleged role as a bookie. Later, the agency intercepted a conversation between Mr Meiyappan and Mr Vindoo Dara Singh. The said security agency later handed over the three-minute conversation to the Mumbai crime branch.
In the said conversation, Mr Meiyappan purportedly told Vindoo to tread with caution as he (Meiyappan) had been cautioned by “the ICC”.
“Interestingly, it was Meiyappan who had called Vindoo. Since Meiyappan mentioned ICC in the conversation, we asked him about it. He claimed that an official from the ACSU in the month of April verbally warned him to be careful. When we asked him about the context in which Meiyappan was asked to be careful, the CSK team principal said he could not muster the courage to ask the officer anything further as he was already in touch with bookies,” a crime branch officer said.
“We suspect that the ACSU member was aware of Meiyappan’s involvement in betting and his links with bookies. Otherwise there was no need for him to contact a franchise owner. If it was official communication, it would have been done in writing and the information would have been sent to the BCCI, and not a team owner,” the officer added.
When JCP (crime branch) Himanshu Roy was asked whether the Mumbai police would cross-check with the ICC the information given by Mr Meiyappan, he said, “We will take a call in due course of time.”