Mumbai: Bollywood actor and filmmaker Arbaaz Khan on Saturday confessed to placing bets on Indian Premier League (IPL) matches last year while being interrogated by Mumbai Police officers for five hours.
Khan made the confession while recording his statement at Thane Police's Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) in connection with the alleged IPL betting racket.
Police have arrested six persons in connection with the betting racket so far.
According to sources, Khan told the police that he had lost Rs 2.75 crore in IPL betting last year and claimed to have not placed any bets in this year’s edition.
He also confessed to knowing Sonu Jalan alias Sonu Malad, who is believed to be one of the top bookies in the country, for six years.
The city police had on Friday issued summons to the 50- year-old actor-producer for recording his statement. In a letter sent to Khan, the police asked him to join the probe in the wake of arrest of an alleged bookie who was placing bets on the T20 matches.
After being questioned for five hours, Khan came out of the police station to say, “I am cooperating with the police and will continue to do so."
The AEC busted the racket on May 15 with the arrest of four people in Mumbai, including Jalan.
During the investigation, a "connection" between Jalan and Arbaaz was established, said Senior Inspector and head of the AEC Pradeep Sharma on Friday. "We suspect that Arbaaz Khan had placed bets on IPL matches and want to scrutinise his bank transactions," another police official had told PTI.
Arbaaz allegedly crores in betting to Jalan and was not paying the amount, following which the bookie had threatened the actor, the official had said, citing the interrogation of the arrested accused.
(With agency inputs)
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