Rajasthan Royals co-owner Shilpa Shetty had placed bets on a cricket match on at least one occasion, a friend of the Bollywood actor's husband Raj Kundra has told Delhi Police investigators.
Kundra's friend, a businessman named Umesh Goenka, was questioned over four days by the Delhi Police Special Cell this week after Royals cricketer Siddharth Trivedi told investigators that Goenka frequently asked him for information on team composition and pitch conditions during the IPL's sixth season.Trivedi is now a witness for the police.
"Goenka has said in his statement that Shilpa placed bets once," Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express Thursday. "Goenka himself is a bookie, and we are verifying his links if any with the other leaders of the betting syndicate whom we have arrested," Kumar said.
Earlier on Thursday, Kumar had said that Kundra — who was questioned for over 12 hours by the Special Cell on Wednesday — had been heavily involved in betting on cricket matches.
Amid a storm of angry tweets by the actor, accusing the media of "casting aspersions" and making "derogatory statements", Kumar had told ANI that Kundra placed bets through Goenka, including on the performance of his own team. Kundra had also suffered heavy losses in the process, Kumar said.
The Delhi Police said they did not intend to immediately arrest Kundra because their investigation was focused on spot- and match-fixing, and not betting. This line is different from the one taken by Mumbai Police, who arrested CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan only on suspicion of betting.
Police have, however, seized Kundra's passport, and asked him to be available whenever he is called. Sources in the police claimed Kundra had told interrogators that he had been betting for the past three years, and had so far lost around Rs 1 crore.
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