Security agencies believe that the main accused in Mumbai police’s betting case, Ramesh Vyas, who was providing call conference between Indian bookies and bookmakers operating from Pakistan and Dubai, was working on the instructions of gangster Chhota Shakeel — close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.
Sources said that to establish the underworld’s involvement in the betting and spot-fixing scandal, the Delhi police might soon arrest Vyas. The indication also came after Delhi police moved the Saket court in New Delhi that sought Vyas’ production warrant, arrested by the Mumbai police in its betting case. Vyas was granted bail on Tuesday in Mumbai.
Sources said that the Delhi police special cell officials on Tuesday communicated to their counterpart in Mumbai and sought details about Vyas. A crime branch officer said, “The Delhi police official told us that they have concrete evidence, which shows that the (international) phone lines coordinated by Vyas that connected Pakistani bookies with Indian bookies, were controlled by Chhota Shakeel and other top D-company members.” This implies that the Delhi police suspects that Vyas was working on the instructions of D-company.
Vyas was arrested from his Kalbadevi flat on May 14 with his two aides and around 92 cellphones, along with other betting related articles that were seized from him. He was allegedly providing call conferencing through his 27 cellphones from Pakistan bookies and three cellphones from Dubai.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police fears that after the Delhi police invoked stringent MCOCA in the case, the absconding bookies who are common accused in Mumbai and Delhi’s cases will no longer surrender as they would fear they won’t get bail easily now. An officer from property cell on Tuesday said, “We learnt that a few absconding bookies in our case were about to surrender before the police, but now that MCOCA has been invoked by the Delhi police, some big bookies will not surrender now.”