24 May,2011 08:19 AM IST | | Atul Krishan
A cheat who used to promise youngsters an introduction with a renowned Indian cricketer and a place in 'Junior Cricket League' in lieu of large sums of money was arrested by Delhi police
In a country where cricket has attained a religious status, cheating the young aspirants in the name of the game becomes an easy option for conmen. One such conman is Manish Redu.u00a0 In his honest times, he used to manufacture cricket outfits and sell them to budding cricketers. But as he suffered loss in his business, he graduated to cheating these very youngsters on the pretext of introducing them to a renowned cricketer and promising them a chance in the 'Junior Cricket League' that he told them he will set up. By the time he was arrested on Sunday, he had already cheated around six thousand people in different cities.
Representative pic
Introduction that never happened
Manish's acts of cheating came to light after a state-level cricketer, who had played for Under-19 team at an international level, lodged a complaint against him with the police. "The cricketer, Wasim Akram, said he had met Manish, a native of Rohtak in Haryana, at a renowned cricket academy in Dwarka where he was undergoing coaching. During the course of time, Manish told Akram that he can introduce him to Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag and also arrange for him to play for his (Sehwag's) team in County Cricket League in England. For this Manish demanded Rs 4 lakh from Akram," said DCP (south) Chhaya Sharma "He them took Akram to Hauz Khas and made him stand outside Sehwag's residence while he pretended that he was going to meet the renowned cricketer.u00a0
After sometime he came back and assured Akram that his work was done and demanded Rs 3 lakh, which Akram readily paid. After getting money Manish started avoiding Akram and ignoring his calls.u00a0 When Akram demanded his money back, he switched off his mobile phone. Feeling cheated, Wasim approached the police following which a case of cheating was lodged with Hauz Khas police station," the DCP added.
A police official close to the investigation said that Manish had even taken Wasim to Sehwag's home in Najafgarh. But after reaching Najafgarh, he told Wasim that Sehwag was not available here and took him back to his Hauz Khas house.
The police said that he had told other cricket enthusiasts that he will launch a Junior Cricket League on the lines of Indian Premier League and had even printed posters with pictures of ex-cricketer Vinod Kambli and a few others for the same.
Held before launch
"We had information that Manish was going to launch his Junior Cricket League in a prestigious school in Gurgaon. When we reached the spot, we found Manish arriving in a luxury car fitted with a red beacon light and a Delhi Vidhan Sabha sticker pasted on its windscreen. He was arrested from the spot. On searching his car, six scanned Delhi Vidhan Sabha stickers, letterheads of a renowned sports club of Delhi, bio-datas of 10 young cricketers and 20 prospectus of Junior Cricket League 2010-11 were recovered. Manish told the police that he had organised cricket trials in Ghaziabad, Meerut, Gwalior and Agra and took money from people there. He said he had decided to take to cheating after suffering heavy loss in his business of manufacturing and supplying of sports outfits," a police officer said.
Past imperfect
Ex-cricketer Jacob Martin, was arrested in Delhi on April 26 on charges of running an illegal immigration racket.
Martin's illegal racket surfaced after an Indian citizen named Nimesh Kumar with a fake passport revealed that Martin and his associates had arranged a tour of England for him for a sum of Rs 7 lakh. Kumar, who was later deported to India by the Britain authorities, also alleged that the main beneficiary of the racket was Martin.
Deputy Commissioner of Police RA Sanjeev said, "Martin formed a bogus team - 'Ajwa Sports Club' - and identified himself as a playing member". According to reports, the 38-year-old, who is a native of Gujarat, was repetitively asked to cooperate with the probe panel but he refused. Earlier, Martin's bail before arrest petition was rejected by the Supreme Court suggesting he surrender. Reward money of Rs 25,000 was also announced by the Delhi police for anyone, who would provide information about his whereabouts. He was presented before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Rajesh Kumar Goyal in the Dwarka court and was later sentenced to eight days of police custody. Martin, a right handed middle order batsman has appeared 10 times for India at one-day international level. He came to be regarded as a specialist batsman and an occasional part time spin bowler.
