Meiyappan sent to police custody till May 29

A magistrate here Saturday remanded Gurunath Meiyappan to police custody till May 29 in connection with the IPL spot fixing scam.

Meiyappan, son-in-law of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief N. Srinivasan, was produced before the court Saturday afternoon after being arrested shortly after midnight Friday.

Police prosecutor Wajid Sheikh sought seven days remand to conduct custodial interrogation of Meiyappan which was strongly opposed by his lawyer Harshad Ponda.

Ponda argued that Meiyappan had willingly come down to help the police with the spot fixing scam probe and hence it was not proper to place him under arrest.

Police said they had recovered four mobile phones from Meiyappan which they wanted to investigate to ascertain his role in the scam.

Besides this, they have also taped a telephone conversation between Meiyappan and some bookies for which they want to match his voice sample.

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.