A bookie, who had been in touch with his associates in Pakistan and Dubai while accepting bets during the recent IPL season, was on Monday arrested here after being picked up from Rajasthan, police said.

With this, the total number of arrests made in the IPL betting scandal has gone up to 18, a crime branch official said.

Acting on a tip-off, a crime branch team picked up Rakeshkumar Gangwal (50) from his residence in Jaipur yesterday and brought him to Mumbai before placing him under arrest, the official added. The accused would be produced before a court tomorrow, police said.

Gangwal was in touch with five bookies - three Pakistanis and two from Dubai - through another bookie Ramesh Vyas, who is already behind bars in the same case.

The five foreign associates with whom Gangwal was in constant touch with were Babloo, Master Salman, Javed UBL, 100 and Vickey 26, which are code names of the bookies. However, among these five, police did not divulge who are from Pakistan and who are from Dubai.

Mumbai police, probing the IPL betting syndicate, had earlier arrested 17 accused in the case, including Chennai Super Kings owner Gurunath Meiyappan, who is also son-in-law of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President N Srinivasan, Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh, and bookies Ramesh Vyas, Ashok Vyas, Pandurang Kadam among others.

After Ramesh Vyas’s arrest in May, police had recovered 92 mobile phones, 18 simcards, a laptop among others. 30 of these phones were used to facilitate connecting bookies in India, Pakistan and Dubai via conference calls.

Among these 30 lines, Vyas used ensure communication between Pakistan and Dubai bookies with Gangwal through five lines via conference calls, police said.

Police have recovered three mobile phones used for betting by Gangwal. The accused was also in touch with a big time bookie Shobhan Mehta, who was arrested on Friday, and wanted bookies Pawan Jaipur and Badri.

According to police, bookie Mehta used to place bets in the recently-ended IPL season on behalf of diamond merchants and builders.

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