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Actor Vindoo arrested, Sreesanth splurges Rs 2L on clothes in one day Mumbai/New Delhi: The first Bollywood link in the IPL spot-fixing scandal surfaced today with the arrest of actor Vindoo Randhawa by Mumbai police which claimed to have seized Rs.1.28 crore in cash from a hawala operator. In Delhi, police came out with fresh inputs of its probe in the case, saying Sreesanth, arrested along with two other Rajasthan Royal players Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan last Thursday, splurged Rs.1.95 lakh buying designers clothes in Mumbai in a single day besides gifting a smartphone to his girlfriend using money he got from spot-fixing.
Vindoo, son of the late wrestler-actor Dara Singh, was arrested by Mumbai Police after he was “found to be in contact with the bookies”, police said. Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch claimed that 49-year-old Vindoo, winner of reality television show Bigg Boss season 3, was in touch with some bookies arrested in the scandal and was himself into betting. He was on many occasions spotted watching IPL matches and attending post-match parties. His arrest is the first from Bollywood in connection with the latest scandal to hit Indian cricket.
Dressed in a grey T-shirt, Vindoo, booked under sections 420, 465, 466, 467 and 468 of IPC related to cheating and forgery, was later produced before metropolitan magistrate M N Saleem, who remanded him in police custody till May 24. Police also arrested a hawala operator Alpesh Kumar Patel and seized Rs 1.28 crore from him, Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) told reporters in Mumbai. Prem Taneja, a conduit for bookies who was said to be in close touch with Vindoo, was also arrested. Sreesanth purchased designer clothes including denims worth Rs 1.95 lakh and gifted a Blackberry Z10 model costing around Rs.42,000 to his girlfriend , all of which he paid in cash, Delhi Police claimed as it added criminal breach of trust charge against the pacer in the case.
It also formally arrested a former domestic player Babu Rao Yadav, who was picked up from Delhi yesterday and questioned for his links with arrested player Ajit Chandila, in the case. With this, 18 people are arrested by the Delhi Police for their alleged roles in spot-fixing in IPL matches. Police also said they have collected voice samples of nine of the 18 accused, including that of Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Chandila. They are also in the process of taking handwriting samples of the three players.
Investigators added Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) to the case against 18 players and bookies arrested in the scandal after IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals filed a formal complaint with Delhi Police. This section entails a punishment of life imprisonment. A Delhi court also remanded Sreesanth and 10 others to five more days in police custody in IPL spot-fixing case while sending four others to judicial custody.
The Mumbai Crime Branch said they had phone call data records which showed Vindoo was in contact with absconding bookie Jupiter, wanted by both Mumbai and Delhi police in connection with separate spot-fixing cases registered by them, besides Pawan Jaipur and others. The Crime Branch insisted that Vindoo’s custodial interrogation was needed to establish the chain of people involved in the racket as the actor was not only betting himself but was also aiding the bookies. Vindoo’s wife said she knew nothing about his dealings.
“I don’t know what happened. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know where he is. I just picked up my daughter from school,” she said. The number of those arrested by Mumbai police in connection with the spot-fixing case has gone up to nine since the May 14 arrest of Ramesh Vyas, the alleged kingpin. Virendra Darasingh Randhawa alias Vindoo was picked up from his suburban Juhu residence and arrested this morning for his alleged links with the bookies, who were already arrested by the crime branch. “Vindoo was also into betting,” Roy said.
“Vindoo was questioned after he was found to be in contact with the bookies and subsequently arrested today. His custodial interrogation will continue,” Roy said after a metropolitan court remanded him and two others in police custody till May 24. A Mumbai based hawala operator Alpeshkumar Patel, who ensured inflow and outflow of money from Pakistan to India via Dubai for the purpose of betting, was apprehended from his office in south Mumbai’s Kalbadevi area, police said. Rs 1.28 cash and two mobile phones were recovered from him, Roy said. Patel was actively involved in the hawala transactions for which he used to charge anything between 0.25 to 0.5 per cent for each transaction. Taneja was arrested from immigration area at the Mumbai international airport while he was trying to flee to Dubai. Taneja was in close contact with Vindoo.
The Crime Branch, which is also probing the scandal apart from Special Cell of Delhi Police, had yesterday questioned a casting director who sent photographs of models to Sreesanth and summoned a Telugu film producer having business links with the pacer. Today’s developments came a day after police seized Rs 20 lakh from Chandila’s cricket kit from his aunt’s house in Haryana’s Palwal. Sreesanth was taken to Jaipur last evening and brought back to Delhi today. “He gifted the mobile phone to his girlfriend. We recovered it at the instance of the cricketer. We went to the house where the woman lived after Sreesanth talked about this during interrogation,” the official said. Police claimed he bought the phone using the money he earned from spot-fixing.
“He also bought clothes, including denims, worth Rs 1.95 lakh from Diesel Store in Mumbai. He paid the full amount in cash. We have recovered these clothes. We have documents to prove that he used the money from spot-fixing to buy these articles,” the official said. The official said they have added Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) of IPC in the case after receiving the complaint from Rajasthan Royals. In the complaint, the IPL franchise claimed that they had entered into an agreement with the three players saying that the cricketers will abide by the rules and regulations laid by ICC, BCCI and IPL.
Sources said the franchise said they came to know that the players indulged in spot-fixing with a personal motive and for financial gains and that they “fundamentally eroded” the sanctity of the game. They sought registration of case under Section 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent). Police added Section 409 into the case which already has sections 420 and 120-B.Seven BSF men killed as car falls into gorge Aizawl: Seven BSF personnel were killed and four other personnel injured when a vehicle they used for patrolling fell into a gorge near Mizoram-Bangladesh border Tuipuibari village on Tuesday, the police said.
The vehicle carrying 11 personnel were patrolling in the area when it rolled down into a gorge 350 feet deep killing six of them on the spot.
Another BSF man succumbed to his injuries after a few hours, the sources said. The condition of three of the injured was serious and they were referred to hospitals outside the state.
The remaining one was treated at the Civil Hospital in Aizawl, the sources said. Defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma to be new CAG NEW DELHI: Defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma was on Tuesday named as the new Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG).
The 1976 Bihar cadre officer will succeed Vinod Rai, who superannuates on Wednesday after five and a half years of eventful tenure as the head of the Constitutional financial watchdog.
"The President of India has appointed Shashi Kant Sharma, IAS, as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, in terms of Article 148 (1) of the Constitution of India," the finance ministry said in a statement.
Sharma, who holds a masters degree in political science from the University of York, will be taking over charge of the CAG from May 23, it said.
The 62-year-old Sharma will be administered the oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday.
Like Vinod Rai, Sharma too has served as secretary in the department of financial services. The CAG is appointed for a term of six years or till the incumbent attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. CAG audit reports on 2G spectrum and coal block allocations during Rai's tenure triggered a number of controversies and raised the hackles of the government, besides bringing in the concept of presumptive loss in audit.Delhi,18 UP districts to get 1000 cusec water from Ganga canal NEW DELHI: After releasing 500 cusec water from the Ganga Canal on Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government will release additional 1,000 cusec of water today to meet the demands of Delhi and its neighbouring districts.
"1000 cusec of water would be released today for the second time. Shortage of water in Delhi-NCR is expected to be reduced by May 22," said AK Gupta, chief engineer of the Irrigation Department.
Delhi and its 18 neighbouring districts in Uttar Pradesh have been going through a severe water shortage for the last few days after the upper Ganga Canal was shut for repairing of a breach at Khatoli.
Despite the release of water on Sunday, farming in the districts of UP remained adversely affected.
Farmers in western part of the state including Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bulandshahar still have to depend upon expensive private sources of water like tubewell, pumping sets to irrigate their fields.Sudarsan Pattnaik wins grand prize at Copenhagen LONDON: Internationally acclaimed Indian Sand artist SudarsanPattnaik has won the grand prize at the prestigious Copenhagen International Sand sculpture festival in Denmark for his sculpture on environment.
Pattnaik, who is from Orissa, won the prize for his sand sculpture 'Go Green, Save Earth'. He created the 15 feet-high sculpture in 7 days for the festival.
Pattnaik, brand ambassador of NALCO said "Global warming affects the whole world. We have to think about how we treat the environment and we have to find a proper way to be in balance with the nature. So this time I have created a sculpture on environment. This is the 1st time where I have created sand sculpture with colour sand on abroad."
This festival is open for visitors upto August. Sand artists from 17 other countries have participated in the festival. Ghana won the Jury prize and Italy won the Artist prize.
Last year Pattnaik won the Jury prize in Copenhagen.
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