Former India’s women’s cricket team head coach Tushar Arothe was arrested in a cafe owned by him in Vadodara, in relation to betting over Indian Premier League matches, according to multiple media reports on Tuesday.
The cops arrested 19, including Arothe and two partners in the cafe, Hemang Patel and Nishchal Mitha, according to report on Cricbuzz. Sources said that Patel and others were betting on an IPL game between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab on Monday night.
“We had received a tip-off about the betting activities at the Cafe Stock Exchange in Alkapuri where a big screen was placed to relay IPL matches. We kept a watch there and conducted a raid on Monday night. Some persons sitting in a shed next to the cafe were involved in online betting on the IPL match,” said Jaydeepsinh Jadeja, DCP [crime], according to the Cricbuzz report.
“We checked their mobile phones and found that 19 persons, including Hemang, were placing bets on three different mobile applications. Hemang, who is one of the partners in the cafe, had betting app in his mobile and he was accepting and placing bets on the IPL match. Arothe too was present at the spot,” Jadeja is quoted as saying by Times of India.
Arothe was the head coach of the Mithali Raj-led team that reached the final of the 2015 ICC Women’s World Cup in England.
After reports emerged after Asia Cup defeat in July 2018 that all was not well within the Indian camp, with players not happy with some of the training methodologies, Arothe had stepped down. The resignation became official four months before the ICC Women’s World T20 in West Indies, where Ramesh Powar was the interim coach.
Arothe, a former first-class cricketer who turned up for Baroda in more than 100 first-class games, had previously worked as the India women fielding coach and also had a stint as head coach between 2008 and 2012.
Arothe, who has since been released on bail, denied involvement to TOI.
“I had reached at the cafe just 20 minutes before the cops came in. I am not at all involved in any kind of betting. The police checked my mobile phone and didn’t find any betting app in it,” Arothe is quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, PTI quoted him as saying: “This [cricket] is my bread and butter. Whatever I am today is because of cricket and I will never do such type of activity. Life mei ek paisa idhar-udhar nahi kiya hai [I have never cheated in my life]. Forget about doing it, I have never thought about it.”