Mumbai cops search Meiyappan's Chennai house

Mumbai police Tuesday searched the residence here of Gurunath Meiyappan, an official of the Chennai Super Kings team of IPL and son-in-law of Indian cricket board chief N. Srinivasan while Tamil Nadu Police summoned for questioning a city-based hotelier suspected to be linked to cricket betting.

Meiyappan's house was also searched by Mumbai investigators in connection with the cricket betting case, an official source said.

A Tamil Nadu Police official said Chennai-based hotelier and realtor Vikram Aggarwal has been summoned to appear for questioning in connection with his links to the cricket betting racket.

The Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) official told IANS: "We have issued summons to Aggarwal on May 23 asking him to appear for questioning. We do not know about his whereabouts."

Confirming the receipt of the summons by Aggarwal's wife at their residence, hotelier's lawyer Abudu Kumar Rajarathinam said: "The summons have been issued asking him to appear before CBCID."

While the whereabouts of Aggarwal were still not known, Rajarathinam, quoting Aggarwal's wife, said two policemen in plainclothes took away his client Monday morning.

According to Rajarathinam, he was considering the option of filing a petition in the Madras High Court for tracing Aggarwal.

A few days ago, the CBCID said that investigations were on to find out why the wife of a Chennai-based five-star hotel owner telephoned a cricket bookie, now under arrest, over a 100 times.

Without naming the woman, her husband or the hotel, the CBCID said the woman made more than 100 phone calls to Uttam C. Jain. The official said that the purpose of the calls and the connection between the two are under investigation.

It is also said that the hotelier, known as Victor in betting circles, used the phone connection in his wife's name to get in touch with the bookies.

The hotelier is said to have links with Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh, arrested by Mumbai police for betting.

Hotel industry officials here do not know much about Aggarwal though he owns two star hotel properties -- the 129-room Fortune Select Palms near here and the 162-room Radisson Blu Hotel City Centre here.

"Originally he was in the construction business and then he became a hotelier. He was a new hotelier from nowhere," a hotel industry official told IANS, preferring anonymity.

Hoteliers said Aggarwal was now building a hospital near here as he was not happy with the income from the two properties.