Arbaaz Khan, producer to be witness in IPL betting case

Parag Sanghvi

ACTOR ARBAAZ Khan and producer Parag Sanghvi, who were questioned by the Thane police in connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting racket, will be made witnesses in the case. The police had called the duo for questioning after their names had cropped up during the investigation of bookie Sonu Jalan, who had been arrested by Thane Police last week.

Thane Anti-Extortion Cell Inspector Rajkumar Kothmire said, “Based on their interrogation, Arbaaz Khan and Parag Sanghvi will be made witnesses in the case.” While the police had recorded Khan’s statement on Saturday, the statement of Sanghvi had been recorded on Wednesday. In his statement, Sanghvi told the police that he had met Jalan nearly five years back at a restaurant in Juhu. He further said he had no business relations with Jalan and had started avoiding Jalan after he was arrested by the police in connection with cricket betting in 2012.

Kothmire said the name of another developer from the western suburbs had also been revealed by Jalan. “Jalan says that he had invested crores with the builder operating out of the western suburbs of the city. We may call him for questioning later,” he said.

Thane police had busted the extortion racket on May 16 with the arrest of five bookies running a betting racket out of Dombivli.

Based on their interrogation, the police eventually arrested Sonu Jalan, one of the top bookies with international links earlier this week. It was during the interrogation of Jalan that the names of Arbaaz Khan and Sanghvi came to the fore.