Cops confirm underworld threat to Modi

MUMBAI: The police have confirmed that controversial Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi has indeed received a threat from don Dawood Ibrahim's principal aide Chhota Shakeel. Modi had stayed away from the disciplinary committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the grounds that he had received a threat.
The threat, it is learnt, had to do with betting on matches in the third edition of IPL.TOI, in its edition dated April 28, 2010, had reported that the final match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings was allegedly fixed. The TOI report highlighted the heavy involvement D-Company in the betting through Pakistani bookie Numan Miya and his Indian counterparts Rakesh and Rajesh.
The Jaipur bookies, who have since gone underground, are known for their proximity to certain major players of the Indian cricket business, sources in the bookiedom said.
The threat from Shakeel, who is based in Karachi, was essentially aimed at silencing Modi, the man who knows too much of the inside story of IPL matches, said sources.
Modi can spill the beans on the involvement of certain powerful politicians in the seamy side of life in cricket, police sources told TOI.
Incidentally, Shakeel had similarly threatened and silenced Jagdish Joshi of Goa gutka who had intimate knowledge of the involvement of certain Indian politicians in gutka smuggling and manufacture in Pakistan. Joshi had told TOI how he received a call from Shakeel asking him not to give any information to CBI, which was probing the multi-crore gutka scam in which Dawood's brother Anees Ibrahim and nephew Abdul Hamid Antulay were involved.
Modi is likely to be provided with a foolproof security cover, especially when he comes to Mumbai.
Shakeel has a large reserve of shooters, all of whom can become active at short notice. Even in far off Mysore, Shakeel is believed to have his followers ready to do his bidding.