ED arrests Mumbai businessman in IPL betting case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a Mumbai-based businessman in connection with its money laundering probe in the T-20 IPL betting case that also involves a former official of the agency.

The central probe agency said it has arrested Ramgopal Agarwal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The investigation conducted so far, it said in a statement, has revealed that "Agarwal and his associates collected Rs 3.25 crore from punter/bookies of Delhi for providing protection in the ED case and used hawala operators for transfer of money from Delhi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Lucknow." 

"He (Agarwal) and his other associates had accepted huge amount of bribes as quid pro quo for acts of omission and commission in connection with the investigation into cricket betting scandal by the ED," it said.

Agarwal was earlier arrested in this case by the CBI also, the other central agency probing the alleged corruption case.

The arrest pertains to a case the agency has been probing against its former Joint Director (Ahmedabad zone) J P Singh who was arrested by the CBI on alleged corruption charges while he and his team were probing the betting case.

The CBI said in its FIR that "it has been alleged that certain officers of the Enforcement Directorate while investigating the cases of money laundering in betting and other such activities have allegedly demanded and accepted huge illegal gratification from the accused and suspect persons in the cases".

The 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, in which the suspects allegedly sought favours, official sources earlier said.

The CBI claimed that huge bribe amount was allegedly taken by these officers as quid pro quo for various acts of omission and commission.

The case against Singh and others has been registered under the provisions of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.