Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the apex body governing Indian cricket, warned cricketers to be wary of meeting international bookie and hawala operator Anil Jaisinghani and his partner Deepak Naraini after photographs of a former India left-hand middle order batsman with the bookies surfaced.
BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) had submitted a confidential report on Indian and foreign players approached by a cricket betting syndicate led by Anil Jaisinghani to fix IPL and T20 matches in 2011–12, warning cricketers to steer clear of the bookies cartel.
Anil Jaisinghani and his partner Deepak Nairani operated popular cricket betting books Rajdhani and Balaji with compromised players who were blackmailed to throw catches and boundaries.
'Anil Jaisinghani feared by all'
“Anil Jaisinghani was feared by all, including the police, for flashing his close connection with political heavyweights and having unfettered access to all cricket matches and players. He showered lavish gifts, including designer sunglasses, wristwatches and perfumes, to players."
"All shopping at London's Oxford Street was also sponsored by Anil Jaisinghani in lieu of a few pre-decided outcomes of IPL matches,” explained a BCCI ACU member about the clout wielded by the bookie on the run for almost a decade.
Mumbai Police, CBI knew about Anil Jaisinghani
BCCI had informed Mumbai Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about Anil Jaisinghani and his partner Deepak Naraini's role in spot-fixing IPL matches by blackmailing certain players to make a windfall in cricket betting.
“It is easier to manage a particular player to throw a wide ball or no ball in a particular over or the batsman not to make runs with pre-decided signals like tightening shoelaces or placing a hand towel on the left side of the waist to indicate a particular action in the next delivery,” claimed a former crime branch official.
Mumbai Police officials were tight-lipped about Anil Jaisinghani's involvement in match-fixing and routing cricket betting hawala funds to Dubai and Pakistan.
“We have arrested Anil Jaisinghani from Gujarat on the basis of an FIR lodged with the Malabar Hill Police Station on 20 February for blackmail and extortion. Further investigations are in progress,” said a senior police official, requesting not to be named citing the sensitivity of the case.
Jaisinghani laundered ₹10,000 crore every IPL season
Anil Jaisinghani had laundered over Rs 10,000 crore in every IPL season, which was channeled to Dubai and Pakistan by Hawala. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Ahmedabad Unit had stumbled on the hawala racket in cricket betting during raids on Mumbai-based bookie Sukhminder Sodhi.
The raids further led to the arrests of prominent bookies Tommy Patel, Kiran Mala, Dharmin Chauhan, Chirag Parikh, Ritesh Bansal, Ankush Bansal, Mukesh Sharma, Ashish Grover and Paresh Bhatia.
“Anil Jaisinghania was running the bookies cartel and diverting funds to Dubai and Pakistan. Several summons and arrest warrants were served at his Ulhasnagar residence, but he remained elusive,” alleged an ED official who was involved in the cricket betting probe.
