IPL spot-fixing: Absconding accused held, hotelier summoned

Stepping up their probe in the IPL betting racket, police today arrested an accused in the case against whom a lookout notice had been issued while a lawyer representing a prominent city-based hotelier claimed his client has been picked up for inquiry in the matter. The lawyer said his client, Vikram Aggarwal, was picked up from his house at around 7.30 AM today. “Since then, there has been no information on where he is. So, we presume he has been taken by the CB-CID in connection with the IPL case,” Aggarwal’s lawyer Abudu Kumar told PTI. However, CB-CID officials, probing the case, denied the detention or the arrest of Aggarwal. [caption id=“attachment_820093” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Vikram Aggarwal is the franchise owner of a hotel located on the Ethiraj Road in Egmore here. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police said they would issue summons to Aggarwal, who allegedly led the IPL betting syndicate in the southern city and was a crucial link between CSK team owner Gurunath Meiyappan and arrested actor Vindoo Randhawa, to appear before them, in connection with the betting case. Earlier in the day, CB-CID officials here arrested Sanjay Kumar Bafna against whom a lookout warrant had been issued, in connection with the case. In a related development, a local court today dismissed the bail petitions of seven bookies who were arrested by CB-CID last week. City police had on May 17 busted the betting racket involving IPL matches by arresting six bookies and recovered Rs 14 lakh in cash, a day after three Rajasthan Royal cricketers, including pacer S Sreesanth were arrested in the spot-fixing scandal. Later, police had arrested six more bookies from Coimbatore and Tirupur. PTI