Thane’s anti-extortion cell arrests bookie Sonu Jalan over IPL betting scam

MUMBAI: The Thane anti-extortion cell have arrested bookie Sonu Yogendra Jalan alias Sonu Malad on Tuesday evening in connection with IPL betting scam. Sonu is considered to be a big shot in betting business in Mumbai. He has clients based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. The racket led by Sonu has been spread across Delhi, Kolkata, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana. He has been arrested earlier in 2012 by the property cell of the Mumbai crime branch in Indian Premiere League (IPL) betting cases registered against him. In September 2016, Sonu was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Mumbai along with his accomplices JK Arora from Delhi and Jayesh Thakkar from Ahmedabad in a Rs 2000 crore IPL betting scam. Pradeep Sharma, Senior Police Inspector, Anti-extortion cell confirmed, “Bookie Sonu Jalan has been arrested on Tuesday evening in IPL betting scam.” Sonu is a resident of Agarwal residency at Malad. He is considered to be one of the more important bookies in the betting world and has been active for several years. He has links with bookie Devendra Kothari who was found accepting money at an IPL cricket tournament in 2012. Sonu also has links with three bigger names in the betting circuit – Junior Kolkata, Feroz Ansari and one Subedar. Ansari and Subedar are Pakistanbased bookies, who are in touch with Shakeel Babumiyan Sheikh alias Chhota Shakeel, an associate of Dawood Ibrahim.