Indian held for betting
An Indian citizen was arrested at Mirpur in Dhaka today on charge of betting in cricket matches, police said.
Otonu Datta, who, according to his passport, lives in Regent Park area of the West Bengal city of Kolkata, was picked up around 2:00pm, Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Mirpur division), told The Daily Star.
According to his passport, Otonu arrived in Bangladesh on March 15 and was staying back though his visa expired on March 31.
According to the Bangla Daily Prothom Alo, Otonu was earlier detained during the World T20 on March 21. After questioning, he was released.
Local law enforcers, who were alert following the match-fixing scandal in the Bangladesh Premier League cricketing tournament, spotted the Indian talking over phone suspiciously during the India-Pakistan match on March 21.
The lawmen let him go later as Dharmabir Singh, who works with Anti Corruption and Security Unit (Acsu) unit of International Cricket Council (ICC), asked for so claiming that Otonu was working as their source to collect information on match fixing.
Elite force Rapid Action Battalion however kept an eye on him for leads to any betting activities or match fixing move.
According to Rab officials, the gamblers had been carrying out their activities from Dhaka through constant phone communications from the field. Some people constantly talking on their phones during the matches raised their suspicion. From these suspicions, Rab started keeping an eye on the fields, Prothom Alo reported.
Ludhiana police in Punjab state of India arrested four youths with 36 mobile phones on March 24 on charges of betting on the New Zealand-South Africa match. Information from their confessions was sent to Acsu.
Earlier during the BPL match-fixing scandal, Acsu had asked for Rab’s help to track down those involved in the sensational case involving several local and international cricketers and officials.
Prothom Alo reports quoting detectives that information collected from various sources confirmed that Otonue had links with Acsu member Dharmabir Singh.
A phone call conversation revealed that Otonu had informed Dharmabir that he was under surveillance. Dharmabir advised him to leave Bangladesh, since "it would be difficult to save him a second time", Prothom Alo reported.
Bangladesh government obtained a copy of Otonu’s passport from the Prince Hotel in Dhaka, where he was staying during the World T20 which continued from March 16 to April 6, and blacklisted him and prohibited him from leaving the country.
Prothom Alo reported that Otonu was arrested at Benapol border in Jessore on April 3 while trying to flee to India.
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