Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI President N Srinivasan and top Chennai Super Kings (CSK) official, was arrested here late on Friday for his alleged involvement in betting on IPL matches, raising questions over the franchise’s future.
Joint Commissioner (Crime) of Mumbai Police Himanshu Roy said they interrogated Gurunath based on information obtained during the inquest. “We identified his involvement in the offence related to the IPL betting case. We have placed him under arrest,” Roy said, after the police questioned him for two-and-half-hours. “We suspect Meiyappan gave inside information to Vindu Dara Singh who passed it on to the bookies,” said Roy.
According to reports, Gurunath’s conversations with arrested actor Vindu Dara Singh are explosive. Gurunath will be produced in court within 24 hours. His lawyer P S Raman reportedly said they would have to wait for the remand report to know what the charges were.
Earlier, Gurunath landed at Mumbai Airport on a private jet and was immediately surrounded by a special police unit. Forty-five minutes later, the police brought him through the exit where he took a private car, escorted by a police vehicle. He was taken to the Mumbai Crime Branch office located in the police commissionerate near Crawford Market.
Sources said senior Crime Branch officers were awaiting Meiyappan’s arrival in the office where he was supposed to be confronted on the claims made by Vindu. The actor had told the police that Meiyappan would often place bets using him as a front, and on the other hand, he got access to several IPL players. Vindu had also said Meiyappan was involved in betting for a long time and since he was acquainted with many bookies, helped Meiyappan gain from it. According to him, though Meiyappan incurred losses to the tune of Rs1 crore, he also made huge profits.
Crime branch officials said they may bring Meiyappan and Vindu Singh face-to-face.
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