Former cricketer reveals why he took to betting

A former under-17 and under-19 cricketer who played for Maharashtra, Nayan Shah, was arrested by the police for involvement in an IPL betting racket. After Shah failed to find a place in the Indian national team, he took to betting. A few days ago, 3 bookies were arrested in the team hotel in Kanpur where Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils were putting up.

Nayan was one of them, he used to provide others with crucial information on the nature of the pitches. His modus operandi was to use his sporting background to get in touch with the curator build a rapport and then use it to sneak out details about the nature of the pitch ahead of the matches.

“He also revealed that as a sports person, he used to get friendly and gain confidence of curators and procured information about the condition of pitch from them. He used to get Rs 1.5 lakh for passing on the information about the condition of the pitch to bookies,” said a senior police officer.

So far, he had already passed such information for 10 games.

“In this edition of the IPL, Shah had passed on the information regarding the condition of pitch to bookies operating in other big cities in about 10 matches,” said the police.

Resident of Thane

Shah lives in Thane, which is a suburb of Mumbai. During his interrogation, he also revealed that he had leaked information for the Mumbai Indians vs Rising Pune Supergiant, Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiants, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Lions, Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants match 2; Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders.

The police had come to know about Nayan three days before they arrested him but were waiting for the right moment. It was after Wednesday’s match between Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions in Kanpur when the police finally caught him red-handed with two others.