Brother of top HUJI operative among six held for IPL betting

Hyderabad: Local police busted a cricket betting racket and arrested six persons, including the brother of incarcerated south India chief of terror outfit HUJI, Shaik Khaja, for allegedly accepting bets on IPL matches, police said on wednesday.

The racket was allegedly operated by Mohammed Abdul Khabir Kashif, the owner of Players Paradise Gaming House located in Abids area, they said. According to police, Kashif would allow his customers to place bets on ongoing IPL matches and employed one Shaik Kaleem as manger to run the show. Police said Kaleem was the brother of Mohammed Amjad alias Shaik Khaja, the south India chief of terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), who is allegedly involved in a blast at the office of Commissioner of Task Force at Secunderabad in October 2005. Khaja is lodged in a Kolkata jail in connection with a terror case. Police said Kaleem was also accused of supplying SIM cards and mobile phones to his brother while he was in Cherlapally jail here. Acting on credible information Abids Police, with the assistance of DCP Central Zone Special Party, raided the shop on April 22 and apprehended six accused. Police said Kashif and Kaleem would allow their customers to contact their associate Nitin Singh for betting, who would in turn used to contact one Datta, the Pune-based kingpin of the racket, a senior police officer said. Police seized a television set, Rs 10,500 in cash besides four mobile phones from the possession of Kashif, Kaleem and four of their other associates, they said, adding that hunt is on to nab Dutta. According to police, Khaja, a resident of Malakpet locality here, allegedly had links with several terror outfits and was tasked by Pakistan`s ISI to carry out "major action" in south India. He had been arrested by city police on January 18, 2010. PTI