A Sunday MiD DAY khabri decodes the life and work of a khabri or the informer in a new series on underworld gossip
With around 50 IPL matches to be played in the country, the underworld is sure to make a killing. There are about 1,000 bookies in Mumbai alone and bets worth Rs 5,000 crore will be laid across the sub-continent.
Gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim and his second-in-command Chhota Shakeel offer security to some of these high profile bookies in Mumbai and are expected to corner a lion's share that they call 'protection money'. Chhota Rajan too will use his clout to recover money from defaulters -- usually one of the bookies who refuses to honour his payment.
Gangsters themselves are involved in betting on matches through their favourite bookies. Sometimes, even gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim are at a loss in a game they supposedly control. It was in 1999 that Dawood's right-hand-man Chhota Shakeel, a cricketer in his youth, was tipped off about the outcome of the Sri Lanka-New Zealand match played at Colombo. "Upar baat kar leta hoon,'' Shakeel told his source. He meant he would talk to Dawood.
Dawood had gambled Rs 20 crore on the match and so had Shakeel. They were expecting Rs 75 crore on winning. The match was progressing as per script. At one point, Lanka were 27 for 4 wickets. Then, they were rallying toward victory. Dawood called up a Pakistan player to find out whether the match was fixed. The Pakistan cricketer swore it had not been fixed.
Several associates informed Shakeel that Shobhan Kalachowkie had made many calls to Colombo. This could have resulted in the change of plan. A furious Dawood asked Shakeel to stop all payment. The underworld informed all the bookies that bhai had ordered sauda fok. In betting parlance, sauda fok means no payment.
Bhai's diktat was a blessing in disguise for the losing bookies. But those who were winning, approached rival gangster Chhota Rajan. Rajan's men began calling bookies threatening them to honour payments. The Hindu don was assured a few crores as 'good luck' or commission. Caught in the crossfire, Shobhan approached the police for protection. He operated under the cover of armed police guards for the next three years.
Dawood suffered a similar loss the previous year when the India-Pakistan match was being played at Sharjah.
Again, the easiest way out was a sauda fok.
Gangsters like Chhota Shakeel, Sharad Shetty, Ashok Joshi, Yogesh Paradkar, Ramya Butler, Santosh Adilkar and bomb blast accused Tiger Memon were die-hard cricketers before they joined the underworld. Rakesh Maria too played cricket in local circuits before he went on to become the joint commissioner of police. | 
