The IPL lead investigator BB Misra has claimed that the Rajasthan Royals’ former co-owner Raj Kundra had a contact with a known bookie as he had accepted a gift from him.

According to the investigator, Kundra had initially denied to having any contact with the bookie but later he admitted that he was in touch with him.

Misra told The Indian Express, “When Kundra was interrogated, he had initially denied everything. Then we confronted him with the version we got from the bookie. It was then that he admitted he was in touch (with the bookie). He (Kundra) had taken a gift from the bookie.

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“He (Kundra) said he did not know the bookie. But his mobile had the number of that bookie. He explained that it was an undesirable contact and he had to store it so if a call comes he will know that it is a bookie and he would not pick it up. Fair enough…but then he would not have accepted a gift. When you say he is an undesirable contact and ‘I don’t want to talk to him’, why did you accept a gift from him? Why did you allow him to come near you? This was a contradiction. So I reminded Raj Kundra of the gift he took.”

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Kundra informed The Indian Express that the gift was a 10-gram gold chain for his new-born and panjiri (a wheat-based sweet) but he denied to accept that. Later, the bookie left that with the watchman at his residence.

Kundra told The Indian Express through WhatsApp, “I had no idea this person was a bookie as it’s not written on anyone’s face. I met him first at a friend’s party. He piled on and was over-friendly and asked for IPL tickets for his son, which my bodyguard gave him. Once he turned up at my house with panjiri and a gold chain for my new-born. I told him I was on my way out and didn’t even entertain him. I declined but he left the panjiri and chain with my watchman. I never had any dealings with this person, other than on these two occasions.”

After the investigation on the IPL 2013 spot-fixing and betting cases, where Rajasthan Royals had been handed a two-year suspension (2016 and 2017) from the tournament by BCCI, Kundra has been handed a life ban from cricket matches.

While Misra is unsure about Kundra’s contact with the bookie for cricket or any betting or not on those purposes, he has pointed out that Kundra initially misled the Justice Mudgal committee.

Misra said, “Whatever he told the Justice Mudgal committee initially turned out to be false. I am repeatedly saying that he may not have used the bookie for cricket or any betting or maybe he was not passing on information. But the fact remains that he was in contact with a bookie. He was misleading the (Mudgal) committee. To be in touch with a bookie, by itself was incorrect.”

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Earlier, Misra also claimed that a top Indian cricketer was under question for his contact with a known bookie prior to an international cricket match in the 2008/09 season. The investigator further added that the player was part of Indian cricket team that won the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. However, he hasn’t revealed the name of that player.