Court sends two betting case accused to 3 days’ remand

A city court on Tuesday sent two main accused in the alleged Rs 4,000-crore cricket betting racket to three days’ custody.

Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court Judge Ajitkumar Bhojak sent the two alleged bookies Kiran Mala and Tommy Patel to custody for three days, responding to an application filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seeking their remand for 10 days.

ED, through its advocate Sudhir Gupta, sought remand of the two accused stating they were prima facie involved in the betting racket and needed to be interrogated in custody as they were not co-operating with the probe. International bookies could be involved in the betting racket and custodial interrogation of Mala and Patel is needed to probe that aspect, Gupta said. 

Gupta said evidence collected in the case need to be corraborated with statements of the other accused as well as witnesses and the duo's statements must also be taken in the betting case. 

On March 26, the  ED had filed a case of alleged money laundering against them and froze their bank acounts in connection with the betting racket.