The Times of India has reported that some bookies were aware of the outcome of the final match of the IPL between the much-fancied Mumbai Indians and former finalists Chennai Super Kings.
That's why, they claim, the bookies stopped accepting bets on a CSK win even when Dhoni's boys were seemingly on the mat at the end of the twelfth over while batting first.
The entire tournament, comprising 60 matches, witnessed a mind-numbing turnover of US $11 billion, sources in the Indian security establishment said. On an average, Rs 850 crore was bet on each match.
Betting syndicates and their sponsors in the underworld raked in thousands of crores, especially in the final. A top punter said: "Several thousand crores were bet on a victory by Mumbai Indians with the odds heavily favouring a win by the local team at the start of the game. Everybody took it for granted that Mumbai would win. But when the Chennai team started making a bold comeback, the bookies were ordered by their bosses to stop accepting bets favouring a Chennai win. Since the bookies have solid support from the underworld, nobody dared protest against their unprofessional conduct. This enabled the bookies to make a huge killing."
The Pakistan-based Dawood Ibrahim gang gained the most. A big-time Pakistani bookie, known simply as Numan Miya, masterminded the operation for D Company from Karachi. Sources in the police said that "betting took place on each of the 60 matches and almost on a ball-to-ball basis".
It is learnt that on the Indian side, Rajesh Jaipur, a big-time bookie based in Jaipur and known for his close proximity to a highly-controversial figure in Indian cricket circles, led the Indian betting operations this time around.
"If Rajesh Jaipur and his brother Rakesh are made to undergo the narco test, then a huge betting racket in IPL matches and the role of the bigwigs will be exposed," a police source added.
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