Realtor under Tamil Nadu cops' scanner on cricket betting

The dealings of a real estate developer with arrested cricket bookies were being looking into for suspected wrongdoings, Tamil Nadu Police said here Thursday.

Officials did not name the real estate developer suspected to be involved in the betting controversy.

In a statement issued here, the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) of the state police said they were in the process of analysing the call details as well as the information available in the electronic devices of the accused.

"Bookies are found to have VIP clients and one such person is a real estate developer. Enquiry shows he is having financial dealings with many bookies. Investigation is going on over all the leads and inputs," the statement said.

Special teams had also been formed to arrest notorious bookie Kitty alias Uttam, police said.

The CB-CID has arrested seven people so far in connection with betting on cricket matches.

Four of the accused - Harish Bajaj, S. Virudhachalam also known as S. Vedhachalam, Lucky alias Narpath Jain, and Pappu alias Praveen Kumar - have been taken into police custody for interrogation.

The others - Goutham, Deepak Bajaj and Sunil Bajanlal - will also be questioned in police custody in due course, CB-CID said.

According to police, many of the accused had obtained SIM cards by impersonation with false and fictitious identity proofs while committing the offence of cheating with criminal conspiracy.

As such, the sections of Indian Penal Code 419 (cheating by personation), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) have been added to the charges already slapped on them.

Police have so far seized Rs.18 lakh, bank cheques to the tune of Rs.50 lakh, laptops, computers, cell phones and incriminating documents. Bank accounts of the bookies have been frozen.