May 25 (PTI): Chennai Super Kings executive Gurunath Meiyappan placed “huge bets” on IPL matches, Mumbai police today told a metropolitan court which remanded him in police custody till May 29.

However, doubts over Sunday’s final involving the Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Calcutta were cleared with IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla saying the match would be held as scheduled.

Gurunath was arrested last night after being questioned about his phone conversations with arrested bookie Vindoo Dara Singh. The 36-year-old, armed with inside information about the Super Kings strategy, shared those with bookies to make money, said the police remand application, which had sought seven days’ custody.

Public prosecutor Wajid Sheikh told the court that even during the matches, Gurunath made a large number of calls to Vindoo.

Mumbai police joint commissioner Himangshu Roy said Gurunath had been betting on matches involving not only the Super Kings but other IPL teams too for two years.

Roy said Gurunath used to facilitate Vindoo’s entry into the VIP hospitality box during the Super Kings’ matches.

Vindoo, Roy said, knew several players of the Kolkata Knight Riders too.

The remand application said the police were probing Gurunath’s relations with Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, whom ICC has pulled out of the upcoming Champions Trophy. Roy said Rauf had “fled” India on being tipped off by Vindoo about an impending crackdown after the spot-fixing scandal was exposed.

Roy said Rauf had not been made an accused in the case “as of now” though the police had come across instances of “impropriety” committed by him.

Sambalpur racket

Sambalpur police today busted a betting racket and arrested three persons. They were accepting bets on IPL matches. The police have registered a case against seven persons and are on the lookout for the four other accused.

“We have seized two four-wheelers, two motorcycles, a laptop and nine mobile phones from them,” said inspector in charge of Dhanupali police station P.K. Rout.

The police said bets were placed through mobile phones. “They placed bets of around Rs 1 lakh on every match. The accused were earning between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per match,” said sub divisional police officer P.K. Mohapatra.