Mohammad Yahya, who once worked as a spot boy in some of legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s films, has been arrested by Delhi Police from Hyderabad for his involvement in the Indian Premier league, spot-fixing scandal.
He was detained at Hyderabad international airport by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on the basis of a look Out Circular (lOC) issued by the Delhi Police. Yahya was trying to flee to Dubai when he was intercepted.
Yahya’s arrest may lead Delhi Police to other teams playing in the IPl as there are leads that point towards the involvement of at least three more players and one IPl team. The poor performance of this team has flummoxed cricket experts despite the team having many international stars in its rank.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Delhi Police has written to the FRRO to check and verify the antecedents of all the cheer leaders who were performing during the IPl matches. Police have specifically asked about their port of entry and their nationalities. Delhi Police investigations have found that the cheer leaders have been colluding with the bookies and giving out important match-related information to them.
Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, SN Srivastava said that Yahya was stopped from boarding a flight to Dubai from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
An lOC was issued against his name to prevent him from escaping the country and all airports and ports were on alert.
Investigations were launched to probe Yahya’s role in spot-fixing after arrested bookie Chandresh Patel named him.
He has been brought to Delhi for interrogation and revelations made by him may throw fresh light on the probe, Srivastava said.
45-year-old Yahya who belongs to Hyderabad had worked as a spot boy in some of Dilip Kumar’s films and was known as Yusuf in the world of bookies. Interestingly, Dilip Kumar’s original name was Yusuf Khan.
Yahya worked in Bollywood till 1984 and later became a bookie. He has been identified as a conduit between certain players and the bookies and has been found to be in constant touch with some players who are part of teams in the ongoing IPl matches.
Meanwhile, sources in Delhi Police said that Yahya’s arrest may take the investigators to the doors of other IPl teams as some of the matches played by some teams look suspect.
In a significant development, Delhi Police have received the raw footage of the three matches that were played by Rajasthan Royals on May 5, 9 and 15 last against Pune Warriors India, Kings Eleven Punjab and Mumbai Indians.
Delhi Police investigators said matches played on 8, 11, 14, 17, 20 and 27 of April too are under the scanner and a dedicated team of investigators is checking the footage to identify suspect moments in the game and the players involved.
With Yahya’s arrest, Delhi Police has apprehended 19 people till now, including three IPl players Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.
When asked whether more arrests could be made, a senior Delhi Police official said that investigations were going on and more arrests may follow once they have the evidence against the guilty persons.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Delhi Police recovered a high-end Blackberry Bold Z10 from another girlfriend of Sreesanth who resides in Jaipur. It has been revealed that the disgraced cricketer purchased it during his stay at Jaipur during the matches played by Rajasthan Royals. Delhi Police had earlier recovered a phone of the same make from another Jaipur girl who was also going around with Sreesanth.