CSK owner Gurunath Meiyappan arrested in IPL betting case

Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI President N Srinivasan and owner of Chennai Super Kings, was arrested on Friday night for his alleged involvement in IPL betting scandal, raising serious doubts about continuance of the franchise in the hugely popular T20 league.

Meiyappan was arrested after nearly two-and-a-half hours of questioning that began at 9.30 pm.

"We have interrogated Gurunath based on information we have. We found his involvement in the offence related to IPL betting case we have registered. We have placed him under arrest," Joint Commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy told reporters.

Roy said Meiyappan will be produced before a metropolitan court tomorrow. The 35-year-old top honcho of CSK, twice IPL champions, was in the eye of a huge storm after actor and TV reality show winner Vindoo Dara Singh, arrested for his alleged links to bookies, admitted to having placed bets on his behalf.

Vindoo, winner of reality show Bigg Boss season 3 and son of late wrestler-actor Dara Singh, was allegedly in "frequent touch" with Meiyappan during the IPL matches and was claimed to have told Mumbai crime branch that the CSK owner had lost Rs 1 crore through betting.

The crime branch, according to sources, had call data records of conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan and they are learnt to have confronted the two with the transcripts.

The 35-year-old Gurunath was summoned by Mumbai Police for questioning after actor Vindoo Dara Singh implicated him in betting. Gurunath flew here by a chartered aircraft from Madurai a little after missing the 5 pm deadline set by police for questioning.

Gurunath reached Mumbai late in the evening accompanied by noted Chennai lawyer P S Raman. He was taken from the Mumbai airport to the Crime Branch headquarters and subjected to interrogation before being arrested.

Gurunath was arrested after nearly three hours of questioning that began at 9.30 pm, Roy said adding he will be produced before a metropolitan court on Saturday.

The honcho of CSK, twice IPL champions, Gurunath, was in the eye of a huge storm after actor and TV reality show winner Vindoo admitted to having placed bets on his behalf.

Vindoo, winner of reality show Bigg Boss season 3 and son of late wrestler-actor Dara Singh, was allegedly in "frequent touch" with Gurunath during the IPL matches and was claimed to have told Mumbai crime branch that the CSK owner had lost Rs 1 crore through betting.

The crime branch, according to sources, had call data records of conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan and they were learnt to have confronted the two with the transcripts.