Delhis biggest robbery heist linked to IPL betting payoffs? NEW DELHI. 30/Jan: Investigations into the capitals biggest robbery has opened a can of worms. Police sources told TOI that the heist may be linked to the IPL spot-fixing scandal and that the looted cash could amount to Rs 15-20 crore, a part of which was meant for payoffs to betters. Late on Wednesday night, bookie Rajesh Kalra confessed that the entire money was his. Earlier, it was believed that a major portion of the cash belonged to his business partner, Rahul Ahuja. The duo kept downplaying the have owned up for 7.69 crore. They initially had stuck to the six crore figure. Call detail records, coupled with the interrogation of Kalra and the occupants of the Honda City (which was carrying the cash) has revealed that Kalra had close links with other bookies and was very active in betting circles. He also has close links with Chandresh Jain alias Jupiter, a prominent bookie and jeweller based in Jaipur and London bookie Sanjeev Chawla, police said. A police team has left for Jaipur to probe the betting connection. We are probing if the robbery was fallout of the police crackdown on betting syndicates. Neither Kalra nor Ahuja were questioned during the IPL scandal. Some bookies have told us that they believed Kalra had been tipping off the special cell off about other bookies. They did not sound very pleased with him, an officer said. The police have also got a tip-off that the Jaguar car which the actor Bindu Dara Singh was using at the time of his arrest belonged to Rajesh Kalra. We are yet to verify this information, an officer said. A source said that while professionals carried out the heist probably with the help of an insider, bookies may have masterminded the operation as payments to several bookies were pending due to the IPL spot fixing scandal coming to light. Kalra could have been targeted by one or more cash-strapped bookies to recover their dues and take revenge for tip-offs that he had allegedly given to the cops. Regarding the money involved, an officer said that initially there were conflicting versions about the amount which started from Rs 6 crore. Probe has, however, found that such movement of cash was routine and that the men frequently transported money in cars for payoffs and money exchange. Kalra was reluctant to pursue the case. We have reasons to believe that he has only given information about the money which he can account for and which was in Indian currency. Foreign currency was also being moved, said a member of the core team, adding that enforcement directorate and income tax departments were going to join investigation into the money laundering and hawala angles. What has irked the cops is non-cooperation from Rajesh Kalra and his employees. Ahujas manager, Rakesh Sharma, has got himself admitted in hospital claiming low blood pressure. Kalra left the investigations and went home on Tuesday night, promising to return later. Rahul Ahuja, who owns a chunk of the cash, did not initially appear before the police yet but joined the investigation later, a senior cop said. The employees have confessed to having ferried crores of rupees on several occasions in the past as well. Kalra and Ahuja have claimed they werent sure how much money was being transacted on Tuesday. We will be able to ascertain the exact amount only when the robbers are nabbed, as the owners are trying to mislead investigations, said a senior cop. Police also suspect that illegal foreign currency - dollars and euros - was to be converted into Indian currency. The staffers have said that the money owners dealt in foreign exchange as well. Investigations in this regard are underway. Our priority is to nab the robbers first and then we can easily establish the money chain. The other agencies have also been roped in, an officer said
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 02:57:23 +0000
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