Mumbai:
A report published in the
Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday morning suggested that two Australian cricketers, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin, were approached by an Indian bookie, a suspected Indian gangster with links to illegal bookmakers.
This allegedly happened during Australia's tour of England last year and then the T20 World Cup.
The newspaper report said both cricketers reported the incident to the Anti-Corruption Wing of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and neither is suspected of any wrongdoing. It also said that the same man approached other international cricketers, an official from Cricket Australia and a member of the media during the T20 World Cup in England.
In a report to the ICC, the Australian Team Manager Steve Bernard also said the bookie was seen with Pakistani and Sri Lankan Players.
According to the Mumbai police, this bookie could be either of the three prominent members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang mentioned below:
•Pakistan-based Chootani and Numan, who allegedly fix matches on Dawood's orders
•Dubai-based Sunil Chandani alias Sunil Dubai, who manages Dawood's betting hawala transactions
•Devendra alias Junior Kolkata who lives in Mumbai and controls Dawood's Indian bookies
Police say the entire match-fixing and cricket betting syndicate in the subcontinent is allegedly run by these men for Dawood Ibrahim, who lives in Pakistan. The biggest chunk of this business is operated out of India.
Police say Dawood himself monitors this business, which is his most profitable venture after narcotics trade.
They say it is this gang that allegedly fixed a total of 18 matches in IPL season 1 and 2, the biggest betting deals in recent times.