IPL spot-fixing: Charge-sheet names Meiyappan, Vindoo, Rauf

Mumbai (IANS): Mumbai police filed a voluminous charge-sheet in the Indian Premier League-6 (IPL-6) spot-fixing scam, naming Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh, BCCI chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and many others before a metropolitan magistrate here Saturday. Besides 22 accused and eight wanted accused, the charge-sheet has named several Indian and Pakistani bookies, many of whom were arrested in Mumbai when the scam sufaced in May.

Running into more than 11,500 pages, the police have charged the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Mumbai Police Act, IT Act and Gambling Act. The police have named around 200 witnesses and attached half-a-dozen forensic reports and mentioned 181 seizures pertaining to the case. The police have also cited phone records, CCTV footage, SIM card details and other evidence in the charge-sheet.

The spot-fixing scam had erupted in May with the arrest of some cricketers and bookies in separate operations Delhi police and Mumbai Police. Speaking to the media after the charge sheet was filed, Himanshu Roy, the Mumbai Crime Branch Chief, said the investigators had submitted to the court details of four CCTV footages, 150 mobile phones, three iPads, 40 SIM cards, 12 voice samples. He said Rs 1.29 crore was seized from the accused. The scam came to light when police arrested bookies Ramesh Vyas, Ashok Vyas and Pandurang Kadam from the city in May and recovered 92 mobile phones, 18 SIM cards, a laptop among other equipment. Thirty of these phones were used to facilitate contacts with bookies in India, Pakistan and Dubai through conference calls made by Vyas.