Mumbai: Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf is one of the 24 absconding accused in the cricket betting case in which Mumbai crime branch filed a chargesheet on Saturday. According to the crime branch, Rauf placed bets on IPL matches, including those in which he officiated. He was also allegedly in touch with bookies and accepted expensive gifts from them.
A senior crime branch officer, on condition of anonymity, informed that on May 15, Rauf had told Vindoo “Aaj zindagi ki haar jeet kar lo Mumbai par (bet your life on Mumbai today)“. “The said call was made during the break between the innings.
Vindoo immediately passed on the information to wanted accused Pawan Jaipur and told him `jo bhi gifts diye hain aaj vasool ho jaega' (We will get the returns for all the gifts),“ he said.
On that day, Rauf was one of the umpires in the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium. MI won the match by 14 runs. Three RR play ers were arrested by the Delhi police after that match for their alleged involvement in match fixing.
“A day after the Delhi police arrested cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ashok Chandiliya and Ankeet Chavan, Pawan Jaipur telephoned Vindoo and alerted him about possible trouble for the syndicate. Pawan told Vindoo that they were in trouble. Through Vindoo, Pawan instructed Rauf to destroy the sim card provided by him,“ the officer said.
The police has also recorded statements of employees of departmental stores where Rauf shopped worth thousands of rupees and the bills were footed by bookie Pawan Jaipur.
Joint commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy said, “We have started the process to get letter rogatory (a request by a court to another court in foreign country seeking judicial assistance) against all absconding accused living in foreign countries.“
Apart from Rauf, 15 Pakistan-based bookies and two Dubai-based bookies are among the 24 persons shown as absconding accused in the case.