New Delhi:
Raj Kundra, a co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals, has admitted during interrogation to illegal betting in the "last two-three years," claims the Delhi Police. Mr Kundra allegedly confessed to betting a crore over the last three years on his own team and others in the Twenty20 tournament.
Mr Kundra's wife, actor Shilpa Shetty, who co-owns the Royals, has denied reports that she also placed bets on one match, a claim made by Mr Kundra's business partner Unesh Goenka, according to the Delhi Police. Ms Shetty tweeted this evening, "my apparent involvement in betting is complete nonsense nd I have never bet on any cricket match ever.Truth will prevail."
Mr Kundra was interrogated for nearly 10 hours on Wednesday and allegedly divulged information about two bookies he used to place bets. Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said at a press conference that the businessman "lost a huge amount of money through betting."
Gambling on all sports except horse-racing is illegal in India.
(NCP reiterates demand for Home Ministry probe into IPL scam: sources)
To prevent him from leaving the country, Mr Kundra's passport was taken from him yesterday.
Three players from Mr Kundra's cricket team, including Test pacer S Sreesanth, were arrested last month for spot-fixing. They have denied charges that they took money from bookies to deliberately bowl badly during pre-determined overs.
Sources say the Delhi Police is unlikely to book Mr Kundra for gambling, which is a bailable offence. The police say it wants to focus on establishing links between bookies and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's crime syndicate or "D Company."