It's 3 pm on a Monday afternoon, the Mumbai Police have just been raiding bookies and most have fled the city overnight. Some are in Goa, others in Lonavla. A blue Mercedes Benz that has journeyed from outside Mumbai pulls up to a bylane in Navi Mumbai and a bookie, wearing white, and donning much gold, accompanied by a conduit, and a driver, who serve as witness, spills the beans.

The interview takes place in the car, parked in a public parking lot. He does not allow the interview to be recorded or photographed, but allows extensive hand notes, stepping in to correct the writing as we progress. While he does reveal his name to us, he insists on it being withheld for fear of harassment by the police. Excerpts from the interview:

Top bookie hierarchy - matches Ibrahim Kaskar & Anees Ibrahim

Pakistan - Dr UBL.

Dubai - Sunil Alamchandani urf Dubai

Dubai - Jeetu Dibai c/o Anees Ibrahim

Ahmedabad - J.K. Ahmedabadi

Thane - Laxmichand Thane urf L.T.

Chennai - Balaji Madras

Kolkata - Govind Calcutta (tennis & cricket)

Kolkata - Junior Calcutta

Mumbai - Lotus

Mumbai - Shobhan Mehta alias Kalachowki

Mumbai - Giridhari Jowaharani

Mumbai - Vinod Asrani urf Vinod Chembur

Jaipur - Pawan Jaipur

Jaipur - Mittal Jaipur with branches in Mumbai and Delhi

Delhi - Tinku Dilli

Mumbai, Delhi & Jaipur - Kothari

Indiana - a group that includes: Laxmichand Thane, Manoj Metro, the now deceased Samrat run by a relative, Deepak Dilli and Rado.

Arbuda Why is the booking/fixing business unraveling now?





This has been on since Hansie Cronje and Mohammad Azharuddin's time. It's nothing new. These people, Gurunath and Vindu, were serving the big stakes among themselves. Dilli ko cutting karni thi (Delhi needed its cut). They were sending their backers (name withheld) five petis and keeping 100 petis for themselves. They were getting bigger and bigger. So they needed to be cut to size.

What are the ways in which betting/fixing happens?





There are three ways: the first is you have a bookie as guarantor. So you will be Gayatri c/o Lotus. That is your account, guaranteed for 10-25 matches. The second is you put a deposit down and double the stake is played for you. The third, which had begun only eight days ago but got interrupted with all this, is a bookie-better joint account. Day to day it is settled. Everything begins with BetFare.com, which is legal in the UK. But that is the model bookies in India take inspiration from. Booking is fine, just fixing has ruined the game.

Explain to me the process by which spots are fixed.





What they are saying spot-fixing is nothing. The biggest money is made in sessions. Sessions are played for 10 -20 overs or 8-13-20 overs. The cricketer thinks he is not doing anything illegal. It is not cheating, it is semi-cheating. All he has to do is play slow for 15 minutes. The rate is set at 70 a session. His job is to bring it back up to that after initial play. People think he is tuning himself. He brings it down 68,67,66,65, to 56. 100 petis, 200 petis are put.

Then after two overs he starts hitting shots. He hits 58. Two balls are left. How will he make 65? The bowler knocks two wides off which he hits a 4 and a 6. 4+1 = 5; 4+1=7, 7+5 = 12. 58 has reached 70. Go and check, in which matches the last two balls were wides, and hit the target. My own relative did the Hawala transfer of money to his (Names a player, name withheld) house. This, cricketers don't mind doing because technically they are not cheating the country, they are just playing slow, then fast. They get money from both sides. From the slow play, then the fast play, the poor public is ripped off.

Are our cricketers so good that they can control flow and direction of every ball?





Top bookies - Runs, Innings: Pali urf Satpal Singh, runs the book Rajdhani

S.P. Bhatinda, Dilli

Prakash Casette, Mumbai

Nawkar Ahmedabadi

Hira Bulani, Thane Madam, players like Virat Kohli are so talented no foreign cricketer in the world can compare to him. But cricket is not about talent. When a cricketer shrugs, allows the ball to hit them, fake injury, they are stalling. The doctor will come, they will not talk to him. Why? A boy will bring water or a towel and say 'Ma theek hai'. That means the money has reached. Then they will spray some ointment and get back to work. Every single ball, for some cricketers, in any match, is prefixed. There are of course some cricketers you cannot go near. Madam, players like Virat Kohli are so talented no foreign cricketer in the world can compare to him. But cricket is not about talent. When a cricketer shrugs, allows the ball to hit them, fake injury, they are stalling. The doctor will come, they will not talk to him. Why? A boy will bring water or a towel and say 'Ma theek hai'. That means the money has reached. Then they will spray some ointment and get back to work. Every single ball, for some cricketers, in any match, is prefixed. There are of course some cricketers you cannot go near.



How do you approach cricketers?





Today everyone needs money. Commission 2 per cent can be Rs 3-4 crores. From spot boys to drivers to hotel staff, anyone can be lured. In the Chennai vs Pune match, the driver was the conduit. He made Rs 2.5 crores.

What are the lures? What if he takes it once but wants to get out of it.





Money, women. The first time a cricketer takes money, he is hooked. He can't get out of it. Because we have that on him. If he says no, we listen once or twice, but then he comes back, introduces us to others. The money is too large. Also women. For our safety all bookies have recordings of cricketers with women. Only 10 per cent of all cricketers say no.

What are the codes? How do you know which boys are yours?

Top Fixers:



- Vyas

- Pawan Jaipur (whom Vindu helped escape)

- Tinku Dilli

- Pali Rajdhani

- Vinod Chembur Gloves change, towel, 12th man bringing Thumbs Up, Goldspot; the codes are all old, they are set up on an individual basis. Get the Sony Set Max tapes and check. Some 4-6 players who are with us have an extra loose patti (ribbon) on their t-shirts. Small, green, it flutters in the wind sometimes. Check and let me know if you spot it. When a bowler who has not taken wides in 6 years bowls two crucial run giving wides, you don't know that he is yours? Gloves change, towel, 12th man bringing Thumbs Up, Goldspot; the codes are all old, they are set up on an individual basis. Get the Sony Set Max tapes and check. Some 4-6 players who are with us have an extra loose patti (ribbon) on their t-shirts. Small, green, it flutters in the wind sometimes. Check and let me know if you spot it. When a bowler who has not taken wides in 6 years bowls two crucial run giving wides, you don't know that he is yours?

All sessions with women are recorded? Do the cricketers know?





No. It's for our safety only. We don't use it. All sessions are recorded. First we will offer them one 5-star hotel or another, we will make a phone call to our man, they will say it is full, so we do that two or three times: Sun N Sand, Leela, JWT Marriott. Then we say, arre I have one bungalow, the key is there, there is a servant, take that. More private also. In their excitement they don't realize we take them where we already had set it up. There will always be a hidden camera in that room. Every bookie has tapes. It mostly happens in farmhouses. Dawood is least interested in this. He doesn't call and force people to fix. That doesn't happen.

Which are the biggest matches/leagues bet on and what is the amount riding on them?





IPL and India-Pakistan are equal in priority. Number 1. Then World Cup, then Ashes. You can write whatever you want as the money coming from it.

Rs 10 crores? Rs 100 crores?





How much ever money I say is less. Rs five hundred thousand crores is also less.

How does this kind of money escape the E.D., I.T., how do you escape the police?





Everyone knows. It's only people like you who are stunned.

Do players work together or individually? Are only spots fixed or matches?





They work in groups. (Mentions names - withheld). Girlfriends, brothers, they convince them. Matches are also fixed. Spots are not as big business as it is being made out to be.