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By Stanislaus D'Souza
NAVI MUMBAI: Cricket may have lost its lustre and match-fixing may have taken a beating, but bookies continue to rake in the big bucks even as kingpins Soban and Vinod Chembur, along with their cronies, continue to elude the police.
While the former is believed to have snaked his way out of the country into Singapore, the latter has gone underground. And even though Mumbai city and Thane have been blessed with new commissioners of repute in M.N. Singh and Surender Mohan Shangari, who have already put the squeeze on the bookies, the fixers appear to have found a new haven in Rabale, Navi Mumbai.
On May 28, Mr Shangari, along with senior police inspector Dinkar Thakur, busted a seven-member bookie gang led by Ashwin Manik alias Asia which was operating in the Sutra Vihar Co-operative Housing Society in Naupada.
The latest modus operandi appears to be to direct calls through mobile phones to the land line, which leaves no trace and has the bookie sitting happily on his throne.
When contacted, Mr Shangari said he would ensure that his jurisdiction was free from all criminal activity, bookies and underworld included. ``We are already on the trail of some more bookies and should have another breakthrough soon,'' he added. Mr Shangari also stated that the investigations currently being conducted into the activities of the seven arrested bookies had led to positive trails.
According to a source who placed bets in the presence of this correspondent, the bookies who have shifted to Rabale include Prakash Wadala, Praful Dadi, Bharat Bhardan and Urs Paras.
Incidentally, Mumbai's leading bookies, including Soban--who is alleged to have been close to Cronje--Chembur and Dadi were guests at the weddings of the offspring of top police officials a couple of years ago. Also present on those occasions were Pali and Laxmichand Thane and Hitesh alias Samrat, owners of bars on the stretch extending from Chembur to Mulund and Sahar, apart from several politicians and well-heeled government officials.
It is also believed that some of these bookies have video-taped copies of the receptions. One of them said that their safety was assured as long as the tapes remained in their custody.
That the bookies have clout with top politicians is clear from a raid conducted over a fortnight ago on Somnath Chembur in a money exchange racket. Even as the police were carrying out the exercise, the raid was called off midway following the intervention of a leading bookie who used his `connections' to advantage.
Bookie Madan Chembur, who is alleged to have set a punter afire for not paying up, was arrested some time ago. And Vinod Chembur had his revolver licence cancelled by Sudhakar Ambedkar when he was police commissioner of Navi Mumbai eight months ago.
According to a source, about Rs 1.65-Rs 2.65 lakhs per bookie is pumped in as hafta money, depending on the geographical area of operations. One sub-inspector, who requested anonymity, said the list of beneficiaries included officers from the post of senior PIs upwards. The possession and use of expensive mobile phones by many PIs and officers holding posts above that of a PI was rampant, he alleged.
``How else will the bookies and the underworld be informed of a sudden raid?'' asked the sub-inspector.
The Prabhakar video recordings were not good enough to nab the cricketers and bookies involved in the cricketing mess, he added. All that was expected from the CBI inquest, he said, was that scapegoats would be found, as in the case of the sudden, high-level raid which was carried out last month on a small-time bookie in Malad. In Ghatkopar, it was reported that four punters were picked up by the local police station and made to pay Rs 2 lakhs each to go free.
Meanwhile, the overall settlements of bookies' transactions are reported to be taking place behind a hotel in Ghatkopar with one D. Kaka acting as the intermediary.
NAVI MUMBAI: Cricket may have lost its lustre and match-fixing may have taken a beating, but bookies continue to rake in the big bucks even as kingpins Soban and Vinod Chembur, along with their cronies, continue to elude the police.
While the former is believed to have snaked his way out of the country into Singapore, the latter has gone underground. And even though Mumbai city and Thane have been blessed with new commissioners of repute in M.N. Singh and Surender Mohan Shangari, who have already put the squeeze on the bookies, the fixers appear to have found a new haven in Rabale, Navi Mumbai.
On May 28, Mr Shangari, along with senior police inspector Dinkar Thakur, busted a seven-member bookie gang led by Ashwin Manik alias Asia which was operating in the Sutra Vihar Co-operative Housing Society in Naupada.
The latest modus operandi appears to be to direct calls through mobile phones to the land line, which leaves no trace and has the bookie sitting happily on his throne.
When contacted, Mr Shangari said he would ensure that his jurisdiction was free from all criminal activity, bookies and underworld included. ``We are already on the trail of some more bookies and should have another breakthrough soon,'' he added. Mr Shangari also stated that the investigations currently being conducted into the activities of the seven arrested bookies had led to positive trails.
According to a source who placed bets in the presence of this correspondent, the bookies who have shifted to Rabale include Prakash Wadala, Praful Dadi, Bharat Bhardan and Urs Paras.
Incidentally, Mumbai's leading bookies, including Soban--who is alleged to have been close to Cronje--Chembur and Dadi were guests at the weddings of the offspring of top police officials a couple of years ago. Also present on those occasions were Pali and Laxmichand Thane and Hitesh alias Samrat, owners of bars on the stretch extending from Chembur to Mulund and Sahar, apart from several politicians and well-heeled government officials.
It is also believed that some of these bookies have video-taped copies of the receptions. One of them said that their safety was assured as long as the tapes remained in their custody.
That the bookies have clout with top politicians is clear from a raid conducted over a fortnight ago on Somnath Chembur in a money exchange racket. Even as the police were carrying out the exercise, the raid was called off midway following the intervention of a leading bookie who used his `connections' to advantage.
Bookie Madan Chembur, who is alleged to have set a punter afire for not paying up, was arrested some time ago. And Vinod Chembur had his revolver licence cancelled by Sudhakar Ambedkar when he was police commissioner of Navi Mumbai eight months ago.
According to a source, about Rs 1.65-Rs 2.65 lakhs per bookie is pumped in as hafta money, depending on the geographical area of operations. One sub-inspector, who requested anonymity, said the list of beneficiaries included officers from the post of senior PIs upwards. The possession and use of expensive mobile phones by many PIs and officers holding posts above that of a PI was rampant, he alleged.
``How else will the bookies and the underworld be informed of a sudden raid?'' asked the sub-inspector.
The Prabhakar video recordings were not good enough to nab the cricketers and bookies involved in the cricketing mess, he added. All that was expected from the CBI inquest, he said, was that scapegoats would be found, as in the case of the sudden, high-level raid which was carried out last month on a small-time bookie in Malad. In Ghatkopar, it was reported that four punters were picked up by the local police station and made to pay Rs 2 lakhs each to go free.
Meanwhile, the overall settlements of bookies' transactions are reported to be taking place behind a hotel in Ghatkopar with one D. Kaka acting as the intermediary.