Gurunath spends night in lock-up, to be produced in court

After spending a night in the crime branch lock-up, Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI chief N. Srinivasan is likely to be produced before a magistrate for remand here Saturday afternoon, police sources said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said early Saturday that Meiyappan, who was arrested around midnight, would be produced before a court within 24 hours.

"We have sufficient evidence to conclude his involvement in the spot fixing case," Roy told media-persons.

Since Saturday is a public holiday on account of Buddha Purnima and tomorrow being Sunday, Meiyappan is likely to be produced before a special holiday magistrate Saturday afternoon.

Meiyappan, who was summoned to appear before Mumbai police investigating spot fixing, wanted time till Monday, but the plea was rejected.

He rushed here post-haste by a chartered flight from Madurai and walked into the arms of the waiting team of crime branch sleuths at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport domestic terminal.

Subsequently, he was taken to the Crime Branch headquarters near Crawford Market in south Mumbai and grilled for three hours.

Among other things, he was questioned about his role and involvement in spot fixing, his betting habits and links, whether he indulged in betting and had reportedly lost around Rs.10 million at the behest of Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh Randhawa, who is also in police custody.

He was also confronted with the evidences available with the police and the details of investigations of Vindoo and other bookies already in custody.

Meiyappan's arrest marks a course-changing twist in the ongoing IPL-6 spot fixing case busted with the arrest of three Rajasthan Royals cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, by the Delhi police in Mumbai.

Moving swiftly, the Mumbai police last week nabbed six bookies - Ramesh Vyas, Pandurang Kadam, Pravin Bera, Pankaj Shah, Ashok Vyas and Neeraj &ndash, who remain in custody.

After Vindoo's interrogation, police nabbed a bookie Prem Taneja and a hawala operator Alpesh Patel and recovered Rs.12.80 million cash from his house.