Jack falls down; will stars come tumbling after?

Vindoo Dara Singh (known as Jack in betting circles) has begun to sing like a canary. Police sources claim that he revealed that he wasn’t the only one from the Bollywood fraternity who placed bets in the ongoing season of the IPL; there were at least four other personalities from the Hindi film industry.

Singh was also allegedly in touch with bookies over the phone while watching matches inside stadiums.

Meanwhile, crime branch sleuths on Wednesday conducted a raid at Singh’s house in Juhu and reportedly seized three cellphones belonging to a known bookie from Rajasthan, Pawan Jaipur, as well as a laptop and an iPad belonging to Singh.

“We know that Singh was not only in touch with bookies Pawan Jaipur and Sanjay Jaipur, but also facilitated their escape from India. He gave them his vehicle to get to the airport from their hotel in Juhu on May 17,” says an officer.

An analysis of Pawan’s mobile phones, explain police sources, is expected to expose the nexus of bookies, cricketers and Bollywood personalities.

A senior crime branch officer says Singh earned about Rs17 lakh by placing bets on several matches this IPL season. The police, however, are refusing to reveal which are these matches.

Singh wasn’t a novice, though. “He met a Delhi-based bookie around 15 years ago, who introduced him to the betting world. Singh had placed bets in the previous IPL seasons and on international matches too,” explains the officer.

Once initiated into the betting syndicate, Singh took on another role — he started working as a bookie himself under the pseudonym ‘Jack’. “Investigations reveal that half-a-dozen high-profile people got in touch with him to place bets on cricket matches. Since Singh accepted only small bets, he forwarded the bets of these people to the bookies who were in touch with their counterparts in Pakistan. Singh earned commissions for this,” says the officer.

Asked if crime branch officials will question N Srinivasan, the owner of Chennai Super Kings, whose son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan’s involvement Singh revealed earlier in the day, the officer says nothing is on the cards as yet.