Raj Kundra, Rajasthan Royals' owner, bet Rs. 1 crore in three years, say cops

Raj Kundra, a co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals, has confessed that he placed illegal bets worth a crore in the last three years on his own team and others, according to the Delhi Police. However, Mr Kundra tweeted tonight saying, "Will make formal statement soon rest assured I am not involved in any wrongdoings. Do not misconstrue silence 4 guilt. Truth will prevail."

Mr Kundra will be discussed at an emergency meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket In India or BCCI, the organization's acting president Jagmohan Dalmiya said today. Rules say an IPL franchise can be terminated if a team- owner "acts in a way that brings the BCCI/IPL/game of cricket into disrepute."

Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said at a press conference that Mr Kundra, a UK citizen, "lost a huge amount of money through betting."

Mr Kundra's wife, actor Shilpa Shetty, who co-owns the Royals, has denied reports that she also placed bets on one match, a claim made by Mr Kundra's business partner Umesh Goenka, according to the Delhi Police. Ms Shetty tweeted this evening, "my apparent involvement in betting is complete nonsense nd I have never bet on any cricket match ever.Truth will prevail."

Gambling on all sports except horse-racing is illegal in India.

To prevent him from leaving the country, Mr Kundra's passport was taken from him yesterday.

Three players from Mr Kundra's cricket team, including Test pacer S Sreesanth, were arrested last month for spot-fixing. They have denied charges that they took money from bookies to deliberately bowl badly during pre-determined overs.

Sources say the Delhi Police is unlikely to book Mr Kundra for gambling, which is a bailable offence. The police say it wants to focus on establishing links between bookies and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's crime syndicate or "D Company."