INFIGHTING AMONG SYNDICATES

Fearing tip-offs, bookies operate from out of city

S Ahmed Ali TNN  

April  15, 2013

Mumbai: Major infighting among two groups of cricket bookies have forced them to conduct their betting operations from outside Mumbai. According to sources, major bookies in the city have opted to operate from remote bungalows in Gujarat, Goa and Lonavala.
    Big players in the betting ring such as Sonu Jalan, Devendra Kothari, Arvind Dahisar Kanti Phataka, Janak Seth and Junior Kolkotta have moved to hill stations and are
reportedly operating their business from there. Last year, the crime branch had busted Jalan’s betting racket in Kandivli. The bookie believed that information on him had been passed on to cops by his rival, Junior Kolkotta. “We fear that to take revenge, our rivals will tip off the police. We have hence moved to undisclosed locations,’’ a bookie said.
    There are also reports that some bookies have greased palms to make the police turn a blind eye to their activities on the eve of IPL matches. Jalan was in the news last year for bribing an IPS officer with Rs 1 crore. The officer had busted a betting ring but let off the bookies after allegedly accepting the bribe. With many betting kingpins now shifting base, the police say they have been able to raid only small punters in the city.
    The social service branch on Wednesday raided a location in Malad and arrested two persons—Satish Shah (56) and Jatin Gala (30). Cops seized laptops, computers, television sets and five to six mobile cell phones when bets were being accepted for Wednesday’s match between Chennai Super Kings and King’s XI Punjab. The duo’s lawyer Rajesh Srivastav said, “Both have been granted bail. My plea was that my clients were mere punters and not bookies.’’
    A day prior, the crime branch had arrested a bookie, Irfan Ansari alias Jogeshwari, along with two associates, Shafi Mulla and Siander Mohammed Khan, while they were accepting bets on the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils. Cops seized 31 cellphones, an LCD television, a laptop and Rs 16,860 in cash.
    In an incident last year, a bookie, Tinoo alias Dinesh, had passed on information about a betting syndicate run by another bookie, Devendra Kothari, after a financial dispute. Tinoo reportedly lost around Rs 60 lakh to Kothari in IPL matches last year. “When the season started, Tinoo wanted to accept bets, but Kothari asked him to clear his dues. This angered Tinoo and led him to tip-off cops about Kothari.