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Bookie Jaisinghani explores legal options, unsure he'll surrender tomorrow

When dna reached him on the phone, he could be overheard telling the driver to turn to Pali after Panvel. While refusing to divulge which doctors he was consulting, he continued to stick to his story of being unwell

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A day before he had to present himself in the Gujarat Enforcement Directorate office, beleaguered international bookie Anil Jaisinghani had a very busy day. Despite seeking time from the ED citing ill-health, most of his time was spent consulting the who's who in the legal fraternity to get off the hook. He seemed unfazed by CM Devendra Fadnavis' announcement of a probe into his security. "Let them probe. I have been able to prove to the authorities why I need security for nearly two decades. I can do it again. If they hear me out, they will have to continue with the armed protection."

When dna reached him on the phone, he could be overheard telling the driver to turn to Pali after Panvel. While refusing to divulge which doctors he was consulting, he continued to stick to his story of being unwell. "I haven't slept since all this began. Who would if they were being framed for the wrongdoings of a namesake?" he said, reiterating that he had spoken to the other Anil Jaisinghani from Raipur.

When asked for proof, he sent three audio files on WhatsApp to this writer, claiming these were conversations with his 'doppelganger.' From the conversation it seems that the person on the other end is from Raipur, but is in Pune at the time of the conversation. He denies coming to Ulhasnagar for several years. "I once came to meet some friends at Ambrosia hotel," he says and denies knowing Mukesh Sharma, the mastermind from Delhi who has also been picked up, despite it being repeatedly brought up by Jaisinghani. Jaisinghani refused to share the number of the person he had spoken to.

The man who was 100 km from the city, insisted he was very unwell. "I will go to Ahmedabad only if my health permits me to," he said.

The ED on its part is ready with what it calls a water-tight case against the bookie. "We have gathered a lot of information about how Deepak Narayani alias Deepu Balaji was working as Jaisinghani's front man on the international scene for 15 years. Others like one Sushil in Australia, one Gautam in UK and one Suman in Dubai have been helping route money for betting through hawala channels," said a source in the ED who admitted that some of his techniques were impressive. "He had more than 200 accounts in students names studying abroad on betfair.com."

Meanwhile dna reports on Jaisinghani have alerted several others who the bookie has a past history with. One such is a Kalyan-based advocate Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh. He told dna how Jaisinghani had taken him along to Delhi to help him file a petition in the Supreme Court regarding his cases. "The case was on 19th Oct 2006 and we had reached two days ahead of time. Jaisinghani suggested we go to Vaishnodevi for darshan. I agreed. Accordingly an Innova was booked and we set out," he recounted. While going past Uddhampur, their car collided with an army truck coming from the opposite direction. Deshmukh said that Jaisinghani, his friend and their families sustained minor injuries, his private bodyguard died on the spot, and Deshmukh himself was seriously injured.

"It was only much later that I found out Jaisinghani had passed off a laptop with incriminating details as mine and said I was into betting." In the three years he's taken to recover, Deshmukh petitioned both police and state authorities in J&K about his case. He added, "I was sent a letter in 2009 that the inquiry into the laptop and its findings had been wound up. They unilaterally did this without even recording one statement from me."

Jaisinghani refused to comment on what Deshmukh said calling it "a very old matter."

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