Young cricketers from 6 states duped

Mumbai: The tentacles of a recently detected scam targeting budding cricketers who were cheated by promising breaks in the T-20 IPL or Ranji tournaments are spread across six states, revealed sources in Mumbai crime branch that is conducting a probe.

The probe also revealed that the main accused in the case had bagged the branding rights for an overseas One-Day International (ODI) tournament played between Sri Lanka and West Indies this year. The officials are yet to ascertain how much he paid up for gaining the rights and the source of these funds.

Officials of the property cell of the crime branch said that at least 29 complainants have come forward with complaints against accused Vijay Barate (40), Jeevan Mukadam (26) and Dinesh More (24). The complainants have come forward from places such as Manipur, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa, Delhi, Punjab and Chandigarh. Investigators said Barate had good contacts in Delhi, Punjab and Chandigarh.

“One of the angles is that the money raised from duping budding cricketers was used as funds for cricket betting. Barate is however not cooperating with the investigation and not divulging anything on the same,” said a crime branch officer.

The bank accounts show deposits from several others too, however, tracking them down with help of these details is unviable, officials said. The crime branch is trying to find out their identities.

The accused and his aides, including Ravindra Wadekar, co-director of Barate’s RN Sports Club Company, who is currently absconding, conducted tournaments in the above mentioned states.

“In order to cheat, they created a real set up and held tournaments in these states. They would arrange small time commentators and other staffers for this,” added the crime branch officer. The accused used to dupe talented youngsters by offering them breaks in cricket tournaments.