New Delhi, June 4
The Delhi Police today said the crime syndicate run by Dawood Ibrahim and his key henchman Chhota Shakeel was behind the IPL spot-fixing scandal. All 26 accused, including cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, arrested in the case were allegedly connected in one way or the other to this syndicate, it said.

The police claimed it has "concrete" evidence like intercepted telephonic conversations to link Sreesanth and others to D-company, as it invoked stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions against all accused.

“The crime syndicate headed by Dawood and Chhota Shakeel used vast network of bookies and hawala operators across the country to run this organised crime (spot-fixing). So we decided to investigate the case under the MCOCA,” said a senior Delhi police officer. Under the MCOCA, the accused face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment along with fine of Rs 5 lakh.

The police’s disclosure came in a court which extended till June 18 the judicial custody of Sreesanth and others against whom the MCOCA was invoked. "Since the accused persons were acting on the command of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and Chhota Shakeel, who have a continuous past record of organised crimes, provisions of the MCOCA have been invoked against the accused," the police told Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain.

"This organised crime syndicate besides controlling illegal betting was indulging in fixing performance of players and also the rates of betting," the police told the court. Under the MCOCA, chargesheet can be filed within a maximum period of 180 days as against 60-90 days under provisions of the IPC.

An official associated with the probe said they had enough telephonic intercepts which showed the 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 the door of 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, the police said Dawood's syndicate was using musclemen and henchmen like Sheikh Shakeel to threaten people to fall in line with their directives.

The court also directed issuance of production warrant for June 10 for Ramesh Vyas, who was arrested in Mumbai, after the police said he was in direct contact with Dawood Ibrahim and was handling the betting syndicate in south India.

(With PTI inputs)

The police claimed it has "concrete" evidence like intercepted telephonic conversations to link Sreesanth and some others to D-company
Under the MCOCA, the accused face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment along with fine of Rs 5 lakh.