New Delhi:
Raj Kundra, a co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals, has been stopped from leaving the country after he was interrogated for several hours in the capital on Wednesday in connection with the betting and spot-fixing scandal that has ripped through Indian cricket. Mr Kundra was ordered by the Delhi Police to hand over his passport.
The Royals are the epicentre of the multiple police investigations of the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), the massively popular domestic Twenty20 league.
This morning, Mr Kundra and his wife, actor Shilpa Shetty, posted angry tweets accusing the media of misrepresenting why Mr Kundra was questioned. He tweeted, "I am back home in Mumbai. Kindly let Delhi crime branch do their work. media stop using derogatory statements." Ms Shetty said, "Really upset with the media fr casting aspersions without any proof, making derogatory statements.. Uncalled for and will not be tolerated.:("
On May 16, three cricketers from the team including S Sreesanth were arrested on charges that they took money from bookies to concede a pre-determined number of runs in the recently-concluded edition of the IPL. The players have denied the allegations.
Mr Kundra was questioned, sources said, because of information from Royals member Sidharth Trivedi, who has turned approver in the case. The cricketer has allegedly claimed that before an IPL match in Ahmedabad, he was approached by Mr Kundra's business partner, Umesh Goenka, who asked him about the pitch and which cricketers would play for the Royals that day. The cops want to know if Mr Kundra was aware of this incident, and of the reported links between bookies and some of his team-members.