IPL scam: Four arrested on bribery charges

Indian Central Bureau of Investigation arrested on Tuesday arrested former Enforcement Directorate Joint Director J P Singh and three others on charges of bribery to dilute probe in the IPL spot fixing scandal.

Singh, a 2000 batch IRS officer of Customs and Excise cadre, was suspended from ED and repatriated to his cadre after CBI registered a case against him in September 2015. Singh was arrested along with his then deputy in ED Sanjay Kumar, Mumbai-based middleman Bimal Agrawal and Gujarat-based bookie Chandresh Patel.

According to sources, J P Singh, through his conduits, "extorted" bribe money in several crores of rupees from several bookies who were being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). A team led by J P Singh in ED`s Ahmedabad unit was probing the Rs 2,000-crore IPL betting scandal and the Rs 5,000 crore money laundering case against alleged hawala operator Afroz Fatta.

It is suspected that J P Singh may have taken anywhere between Rs 7 crore to Rs 10 crore in bribe money from bookies and hawala dealers during the IPL probe.

An internal probe, ordered by current ED chief Karnal Singh, had revealed that Singh and Kumar were indulging in massive corrupt practices. Singh and Kumar allegedly asked several bookies and hawala dealers to pay them in crores if they didn`t want to be arrested, sources said.

An Intelligence Bureau assessment revealed in 2015 that they didn`t receive the bribe money directly, but through their "conduits" like Bimal Agrawal and Patel who fixed meetings with suspects to collect the cash on their behalf.

On behalf of J P Singh, Agrawal visited Delhi several times in 2015 and contacted several bookies who were under the ED scanner. He, along with others, even booked a room in Le Meridian in Delhi between May 25 and May 28, 2015, where they collected the money for Singh, said sources.

CBI sources said bookies who accepted Singh`s conditions were given immunity from ED raids and were never called to its office for questioning.

Bimal Agarwal, has at least five criminal cases registered against him and is known to be very close to some senior police officers and bureaucrats. The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police had arrested him in 2012 for supplying low-quality bomb disposal suits. After 26/11 terror attack, the police department had given the contract for supply of 83 bomb disposal suits to Agarwal and paid him Rs 6.25 crore in advance in 2009.

Agrawal allegedly supplied poor quality suits. He also dabbled in re-development projects and faces criminal charges for cheating and forgery. Since he was known to most of the known bookies in the Mumbai, he began playing the role of mediator in settling disputes. He also acted as a mediator between bookies and J P Singh. Agrawal came in touch with J P Singh during his posting in Mumbai.

After registering a case against Singh in 2015, CBI had conducted raids in Mumbai, Delhi and other places. His father-in-law SKS Somvanshi, a retired IRS officer of 1978 batch, was also raided by the agency at that time as it was suspected that Singh`s conduits handed over bribe money to him.

Source: Times of India