'There is an organised crime syndicate, right from the underworld to bookies to players, acting in tandem. In this case, force and threat, besides coercion, are used against players and one of the arrested has two cases which the court has taken cognisance of. Also, the accused have gained moneterarily,' a senior police official said, speaking of the IPL spot-fixing scandal.
The official associated with the probe said they had enough telephonic intercepts which showed that bookies had made calls to Dubai, Karachi and other cities of Pakistan to fix and alter betting rates.
Efforts were also underway to nab a Hyderabad-based person who could lead to another cricket team whose players were allegedly involved in spot fixing, he said. A hunt has been launched for apprehending this person who was named by bookie Mohammed Yahya, arrested in Hyderabad, during his questioning, he said. In its report to the court, police said Dawood's syndicate was using musclemen and henchmen like Sheikh Shakeel to threaten people to fall in line with their directives.
Meanwhile, Delhi police on Tuesday invoked the stringent MCOCA against suspended cricketer S Sreesanth and 22 others in the IPL spot-fixing scandal for which the ‘command’originated from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s outfit.
Following this, the court remanded Sreesanth, another player Ajit Chandila and the others to further judicial custody till 18 June.
‘Since the accused persons were acting on command of people based abroad like Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and Chota Shakeel who have a continuous past record of organised crimes, provisions of Maharasthra Control of Organised Crime Act have been invoked against the accused,’ police told additional sessions judge Sanjiv Jain.
The court, in its order, referred to the approval granted by joint commissioner of police special cell for invoking section 3 and 4 of MCOCA and also a report citing reasons for the same.
‘It has been stated that the approval for invoking MCOCA has been accorded by joint commissioner of police special cell on the premise that the arrested persons/ accused through extensive use of electronic and via media were in communication with each other and with their other associates, who are still absconding, including those associates who are based abroad.’
Under the MCOCA, charge sheet can be filed within a maximum period of 180 days as against 60-90 days under provisions of IPC.
The police custody can be extended till 30 days under MCOCA whereas under IPC, it can only be extended for 15 days.
Under section 3 of MCOCA, the accused face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment along with fine of Rs 5 lakh.