Tightening the screws on arrested Chennai Super Kings (CSK) official Gurunath Meiyappan, sleuths from the Mumbai Crime Branch served summons to his close associate and city-based hotelier, Vikram Aggarwal, for his alleged connection in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, here on Tuesday.
The police team landed at the residence of Aggarwal located on the upmarket Boat Club Road near Adyar around 7 pm. They checked with the inmates of the house about the whereabouts of Aggarwal, who runs the Radisson Blu hotel in the heart of the city in Egmore. He was also known as ‘Victor’ in Mumbai betting circles.
Subsequently, the police team is believed to have served the summons for the hotelier to appear before the Mumbai Crime Branch for interrogation on any day after Thursday.
Vikram is reportedly the link between the IPL fixing racket cracked in Mumbai and the betting racket being probed by the state police. He is a close friend of BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police conducted another round of search at the residence of Gurunath in the afternoon. The police team arrived at his residence on Cenotaph Road around 12.30 pm. During the previous search, the police reportedly could not access a safe in the house. It was believed to contain important documents crucial to the ongoing probe in IPL betting in which Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh had highlighted Gurunath’s involvement.
Police sources said the Mumbai Police were looking for three more mobile phones which were allegedly used by Gurunath to stay in touch with Vindu and Vikram Aggarwal as well as other bookies involved in the scandal.
The safe was opened by a relative of Aggarwal for the police, who reportedly took away some materials from it. The exact nature of the seizure was not revealed.