IT summons to top bookies in match-fixing case

MUMBAI, NOV 26: Move over CBI, it's now the turn of the Income Tax Department to throw its dragnet around the nation's top bookies who are...

MUMBAI, NOV 26: Move over CBI, it’s now the turn of the Income Tax Department to throw its dragnet around the nation’s top bookies who are already in a huddle after a flurry of investigations into the match-fixing scandal.

Almost all the 35-odd bookies in the city have been issued summons by Assistant Director of Income Tax. They have to present themselves before the authorities within the next 30 days with necessary documents regarding their assets and if they fail to do so they are likely to be prosecuted.

The summons have been issued under Section 131 (2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

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Some bookies in the city, who did not want to be named, have denied that the summons have anything to do with the match-fixing scandal. They are part of the routine assessment exercise, they pointed out.

However, a senior officer attached to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the summons have been issued after a tip-off by the intelligence agency. Most of the bookies have property disproportionate to their known source of income, the officer added.

Mumbai bookies like Madan Shri Chembur, Subash Mowh, Shekar, Pradeep Steel, Anil Steel, Shoban Kalachowki, Laxmi Thane, Royal, Ashwin Malad and Himayun are among others summoned by the authorities. However, some of the bookies are no longer in the betting buisness.

Earlier, some 25-odd bookies from across the country descended on the city during the first week of August to evolve strategies to circumvent investigations into the match-fixing scandal. Now they have to hire consultants to circumvent the IT dragnet.

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Some of the top bookies from New Delhi who attended the conference included Mukesh Gupta, named by former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje. The others were Sunil Sarla (named with Kishan Kumar), Sudesh Delhi, Meins Delhi and Deepak Delhi and Ramesh Goel.

Meins in fact has been `cutting’ betting on behalf of notorious gangster Babloo Srivastava, who is currently lodged at Allahabad prison in Uttar Pradesh. Sudesh is linked to Sunil Chawla, who is currently holed up in London.

While Uttam Madras and Sailesh Madras slipped into the city from Chennai, Ashok Calcutta and Jantu Calcutta came from the West Bengal capital, as the name indicates. Prakash Surat and Montu Surat were representatives from Surat in south Gujarat are just few to be named.