In sensational claims in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, Delhi Police today said Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra has admitted placing bets on his IPL team through a bookie-friend and that it was probing whether his actress-wife Shilpa Shetty was also into betting.
Investigators also claimed Kundra (36) told them that he lost around Rs one crore in the past three years in betting in IPL matches. However, police said they have no evidence yet to implicate Kundra in fixing matches.
Shetty, Rajasthan Royals co-owner, denied the allegations on Twitter saying her involvement in betting is "complete nonsense" and that she has "never bet on any cricket match ever". The tweets were retweeted by Kundra.
Kundra, a British national, was questioned for 11 hours yesterday after cricketer Sidharth Trivedi (30) told police that his business partner-friend Umesh Goenka (36) used to ask for information regarding team formation and pitches.
Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said, "He (Kundra) has admitted to betting. He used to bet on his own team. We have also come to know that he has lost a lot of money in betting. He used to bet through Goenka, who is also a bookie."
S N Srivastava, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said Goenka in his statement before a magistrate informed that he used to place bets for Kundra besides making a reference to Shetty that she also placed bets "once".
"During questioning, Kundra has mentioned that he was placing bets for the last three years and the amount that he lost, all put together, was to be around Rs one crore," he said.
"It is in the statement (of Goenka that Shetty placed bets). We have not gone ahead and verified it as of now. But then we are in the process of verification," he said.
Srivastava said he cannot give a timeline on when Kundra will be called again.
In Kolkata, Jagmohan Dalmiya, chief of the interim BCCI arrangement, said that the Kundra issue will be discussed at the BCCI emergency meeting on June 10 in New Delhi.
