Rajasthan Royals’ owner Raj Kundra has admitted to indulging in betting and placed bets on his own team, Delhi Police claimed today as it confiscated his passport to ensure that he does not leave the country during investigations into the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

Kundra, a British national, was questioned for 11 hours yesterday after cricketer Sidharth Trivedi told police that Kundra’s business partner-friend Umesh Goenka used to ask for information regarding team formation and pitches.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said: “He has admitted to betting. He used to bet on his own team. We have also come to know that he has lost a lot of money in betting.

“He used to bet through Goenka, who is also a bookie,” he said.

Kundra is the second IPL team owner after Chennai Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan who is in the dock for alleged betting. If the charges against the owners are proved, BCCI can suspend the teams from the IPL.

Police sources said that they have confiscated the passport of Kundra and have asked him not to leave.

To another question, Neeraj Kumar said that police have not applied MCOCA in the case to deny bail to players. “We have applied the law based on the crime committed,” he said.

A senior Delhi Police official had yesterday refused to specify whether Kundra is a “suspect or complainant”, stating he was an “important person” needed for questioning.

The sources claimed that Kundra was into betting but not into fixing. Their questioning was basically into betting.

They said that the name of Goenka, with whom Kundra owns a company dealing in steel business, came during the recording of statement of Trivedi, a prosecution witness in the case.

In his statement recorded before a magistrate, the sources said that Trivedi claimed that Goenka approached him and sought details about the cricket pitch in Ahmedabad and details about team formations.

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