Vindoo to face police questions till May 31

A Mumbai court Tuesday extended till May 31 the police custody of Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh Randhawa, who was arrested in the IPL betting scam, according to officials.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate A.M. Padwad also granted similar extension of police custody of bookie Prem Taneja and hawala operator Alpesh Patel, who were arrested in the same case.

Prosecutor Kiran Bendbar, while seeking further police custody of the accused, informed the court that a SIM card given by absconding bookie Sanjay Jaipur to Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was destroyed at Vindoo's behest before his arrest.

Bendbar said the investigators required the accused's custody to probe deeper into the connections between Rauf, Vindoo and Jaipur, besides confronting Vindoo with other arrested people.

Opposing the plea for extension in police custody, Vindoo's lawyer Satish Maneshinde contended that the actor was charged with betting which was a bailable offence. He said Vindoo was not involved in the spot fixing scam.

Arguing that Vindoo had been in police custody for long, Maneshinde assured the court that the accused would be available for probe whenever required by police.

The court rejected the contentions and extended the remand by four days.