Bookie-mafia nexus: CBI chargesheets Babloo

In what could be termed as a nexus between bookies and the underworld mafia, the Central Bureau of Investigation has chargesheeted underworld don Babloo Srivastava for using a mobile phone inside the jail premises to criminally intimidate people for extorting money.

Sleuths of the Special Investigating Cell stumbled upon the case after the Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI probe on a petition by a lawyer that Srivastava was monitoring the day-to-day operations of his criminal network from within Allahabad's Naini jail premises using a cell phone.

According to one of the chargesheets filed by the CBI before the designated court, the investigations disclosed that Babloo Srivastava contacted people at various places, including cricket satta players from inside Naini jail through mobile phones and threatened and criminally intimidated persons to part with money.

Though the investigations were not conducted to find the nexus between bookies and underworld mafia, it could go a long way in helping and unlocking of chain of malpractices in the game of cricket, agency sources said.

The CBI chargesheet said the investigations disclosed that the accused had threatened four persons in Bombay directing them to pay money and forced them to play satta on cricket matches.

According to the chargesheet, Babloo Srivastava also asked the four persons -- Peer Chand, Dilip Jain, Nimesh K Chockshi, Nitin Shah -- in Bombay to pass on details of cricket matches to him in Naini Jail over phone and thereby committed offences of extortion and criminal intimidation.

The chargesheet said further investigation revealed that Srivastava also called Vinod Ji Asrani of Bombay, who is a property dealer and a bookie of cricket, and forced him to play satta.

In another chargesheet filed before the designated court, the CBI charged Babloo Srivastava with threatening Peer Chand and Dilip Jain with injury and caused alarm to them and thereby forced Jain to collect details of cricket matches, scores, fall of wickets in the cricket matches and pass on the same to the accused.

The CBI has charged Babloo with various sections of Indian Penal code.

Meanwhile, a separate probe was being carried out to bring to light all the murky dealings in cricket besides the nexus between the underworld mafia and some of India's leading bookies, players and administrators.

CBI sources said the probe into this nexus and its bearing on national security was being conducted both within India and abroad.

They said the accounts and other important books of bookies had been scrutinised but added that this was a wide area and needed a detailed investigation before fixing responsibilities.

Mail Cricket Editor