IPL spot-fixing: police seek 10 days` custody for bookie

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Saturday sought further 10 days of custodial interrogation of accused bookie Ashwani Aggarwal in the IPL spot-fixing scandal case, saying since it has invoked MCOCA against him it was entitled to seek his fresh custody.

Delhi Police Special Cell has moved an application before Additional Sessions Judge Raj Rani Mitra who, after hearing brief arguments, has posted the matter for June 24. The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) entitles police to seek custody of an accused for a period extending upto 30 days. Seeking fresh custody of Ashwani, senior public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said MCOCA was invoked in the case on June 3 but they did not have him in their custody. The police also said Ashwani was in constant touch with Javed Chutani, a close associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel. The court, meanwhile, remanded Ashwani to two days of judicial custody. Ashwani, arrested on May 16 and after remaining in Delhi Police custody for over 11 days, was handed over to the Mumbai Police on May 28 as they wanted to interrogate him in a similar case lodged there. He was produced today before the court in pursuance of the production warrants issued earlier. Meanwhile, the court decided to hear the bail pleas of suspended Rajasthan Royal`s cricketer Ajit Chandila, bookies Sunil Bhatia, Ramesh Vyas, Ashwani, Deepak Kumar and player Baburao Yadav, on June 24. The prosecution said custodial interrogation of Ashwani is required to unearth the deep rooted conspiracy. "Now, the investigation of this case has extended beyond spot-fixing in IPL-6 crcket matches in the form of organised crime. "To unearth the whole conspiracy of this syndicate and arrets of other co-accused persons at his instance from various states of India, a thorough interrogation is required," the police contended. Ashwani`s counsel, R S Jhakhar, opposed the plea of the police saying MCOCA was invoked merely to hinder the accused from getting bail in the case. He further told the court that the prosecution was aware from the beginning that all the accused in the case were part of an alleged syndicate run by Dawood and Shakeel. The accused said if the police were aware of it, then they should have invoked MCOCA at the outset. The Delhi Police had on May 16 arrested three cricketers -- S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan of Rajasthan Royals -- on the charge of spot-fixing. On June 3, Delhi Police had slapped MCOCA against Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan and 25 others, alleging they were acting under the command of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel. The court had granted bail to Sreesanth, Chavan and 19 others due to lack of evidence to be charged under MCOCA. Besides Chandila, bookies Sunil Bhatia, Ramesh Vyas, Firoz Ansari, Deepak Kumar and ex-Ranji player Babu Rao Yadav are also in judicial custody till July 2. PTI