A city court on Tuesday extended the police custody of Vindoo Singh Randhawa till May 31, after the Mumbai police disclosed to the Magistrate that he, before his arrest in the IPl spot-fixing scam, had asked controversial Pakistani Umpire Asad Rauf to destroy a SIM card given to the latter by an absconding bookie.
Apart from extending Vindoo’s custody, Additional Metropolitan Magistrate A M Padwad also remanded Alpesh Patel, a hawala operator with international links, and fashion designer Prem Taneja, a conduit between bookies and cricket personalities, in police custody till May 31.
Elaborating on the submission made by the police in their application seeking the extension of Vindoo’s custody, Prosecutor Kiran Bendbar told the court that the absconding bookmaker Sanjay Jaipur had given a SIM card to Pakistani umpire Rauf.
However, shortly before his arrest on May 21, Vindoo had asked the Pakistani umpire to destroy the SIM card, which would have thrown light on the call transactions that the latter allegedly had with the actor and other bookmakers.
It may be recalled Vindoo had facilitated the escape of bookie-brothers Sanjay Jaipur and Pawan Jaipur from Mumbai to Dubai, after the Delhi police made the first arrests in the IPl spot fixing scam.
Around the same time, following a tip-off from Vindoo, Rauf had managed to escape to Dubai on May 21, from where he flew to Pakistan.
The Prosecutor told the court that the investigators wanted to subject Vindoo to custodial interrogation to know more about his nexus with Rauf and bookie Sanjay Jaipur and the reason behind the actor asking the Pakistani umpire to destroy the SIM card.
Similarly, the investigators intended to confront confront Vindoo and others arrested in the case with Ashwin Agarwal alias Tinku, arrested by the special cell of Delhi police, the prosecutor told the court.
The city crime branch sleuths had on Monday secured a production warrant for bringing Tinku to Mumbai for interrogation.
Opposing the extension of the actor’s custody, Vindoo’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde argued that the charge made against his client was one of betting, which was a bailable offence, and that the actor was not involved in match-fixing.
Maneshinde contended that the police had already subjected Vindoo to prolonged spells of custodial interrogation, that there was no need for extending the police custody and that the actor would be available to the police as and when he was required for questioning.
The Magistrate, however, Maneshinde’s arguments and extended the police custody of Vindoo till May 31, after observing: “There are sufficient grounds for extending their police custody”.
Talking to mediapersons outside the court, Vindu’s Russian model-wife Dina Umarova alleged that her husband was being “victimsed” by the police despite having come clean about his role in the scam. “He has admitted he was betting. He has told them ( the police) everything. So why are they still holding himIJ” Dina asked.
“You all created a big issue about my husband… His is a bailable offence, but Vindu is being victimised by political issues in India,” she said.
Vindoo was arrested on May 21 for his alleged links with bookies involved in the IPl spot-fixing scam. Ever since his arrest, Vindoo has proved gold mine for the police in terms of information.
He has been singing like a canary during his interrogation before the police. It was because of the revelations made by him that BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested.
Similarly, following Vindoo’s revelations, Pakistani umpire Rauf came under the scanner of the Mumbai police and was subsequently withdrawn by the ICC from the Champions Trophy to be played in the United Kingdom from June 6 to 23.