Actor Arbaaz Khan summoned by police in IPL betting scam

Bollywood actor-producer Arbaaz Khan was summoned for investigations into the ongoing probe in the IPL betting case, a police official said in Thane on Friday.

Arbaaz, brother of superstar Salman Khan, has been asked to appear before the Thane Anti Extortion Cell on Saturday, said Police Inspector Rajkumar Kothmire.

The summon was issued to Arbaaz after prominent bookie Sonu Jalan alias Sonu Batla -- who reportedly has links with various mafia dons, including absconding Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar -- was arrested some time ago and interrogated by the AEC sleuths in connection with the IPL scam, he added.

Pradeep Sharma, senior inspector of the anti-extortion cell, had said, “We have booked him (Jalan) on betting charges. But we are, in a way, trying to trace his underworld connections to Dawood Ibrahim. It has come to our notice that Jalan assisted Dawood in fixing matches.”

According to Sharma, Jalan was attending a meeting with an alias of Dawood. “He even has links in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. We are interrogating him about these links and about his money.”

“During the investigation, it was found that Arbaaz was being threatened by Jalan as he had lost money on one of the matches,” said Pradeep Sharma.

“Jalan had arranged a match-fixing meeting at Dubai. The celebrity was also present at that time. We are probing to know which match was fixed and who all were involved,” Sharma said.

The 50-year-old actor-producer's cropped up during Jalan's interrogation and recovery of some photographs which include other major film personalities who may be subsequently summoned, he indicated.

"The case investigations are going on since the past five-six years and could involve amounts of over Rs 500-600 crore. We want to find out from Arbaaz what was his role in the entire matter," said Kothmire who is probing the matter.

According to Kothmire, the entire IPL scam involves some of the biggest bookies operating from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and New Delhi.

Jalan was first nabbed around 10 years ago when the IPL betting scam had erupted and later investigations proved he was in touch with several world personalities, including Arbaaz.

(With inputs from IANS)