The Delhi police’s special cell on Tuesday detained gangster Chhota Shakeel’s aide Firoz Farid Ansari alias Todki from Mumbai for questioning, in connection with the ongoing IPL spot-fixing scandal, and are exploring the underworld angle in the case. The Mumbai crime branch, which arrested Firoz last year in a betting case, believes that Ramesh Vyas, who is in custody of the Delhi police, might have falsely implicated him, as both are arch-rivals.
Firoz, a resident of Shankar Building on Shukla Street in Nagpada, was a close confidant of slain gangster-cum-bookie Zahid Mir alias Chhote Miya, who was shot dead outside his betting den at Nagpada in 2009. Ansari knows all the details of the functioning of an international betting as well as match-fixing racket. After Chhote Miya was shot dead, Ansari allegedly became in-charge of the Mumbai’s betting syndicate.
“He also worked as a middleman for the gang run by Shakeel in Pakistan. But, after his arrest in Mumbai in May last year by the property cell, for his alleged involvement in an IPL betting racket, Ramesh Vyas took over his position. This was the main reason why both became arch rivals of each other,” said a crime branch source.
“The Delhi police has picked up Firoz on Tuesday for questioning in connection with their case, after Vyas took his name. But, we believe Vyas might have falsely implicated Firoz as our sources say Firoz has stopped betting since his arrest. There is
a strong possibility that Vyas took his name in order to implicate him in the case,” said a crime branch officer.
Another officer said, “A lot of bookies could now surrender themselves before the police as the Delhi court has dropped the MCOCA charge in the Delhi police case. Many wanted bookies in Mumbai case had gone underground and few had fled the country due to the fear of MCOCA.