Mumbai: 2 scale hockey stadium wall to catch glimpse of IPL match, arrested
The Marine Drive police early Monday arrested two persons for allegedly scaling a building of Mahindra hockey stadium and watching an Indian Premier League match played between Delhi Capital and Punjab Kings at the Wankhede stadium. The police said that based on a tip-off, the two were arrested red-handed from the terrace of the stadium.
The police identified the two accused as Sachin Patil (45) and Vicky Naik (39), residents of Nerul in Navi Mumbai and Cross Maidan in south Mumbai, respectively.
Senior Inspector Vishwanath Kolekar of Marine Drive police station said, “Around 10.30 pm on Sunday, one of our beat marshals received a tip-off about the two persons. A team was sent, they were caught and brought to the police station, where they were arrested around 2 am on Monday.” The two have been booked under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the IPC
“Due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, no spectator is allowed at IPL matches. Also, no one is allowed to step out until there is an emergency. As they flouted both rules, they were arrested,” he added.
Patil, who works as an cricket umpire and Naik, a body-building coach, were released on bail hours after their arrest.
In their statement to the police, the two men said that the security guard of the stadium is their friend and had allowed them to enter the premises and watch the match from the terrace. A source said the police are investigating whether the men were involved in illegal betting.
“There is a delay between the actual game being played and live telecasts, so we believe that they were either placing ball-wise bets themselves or providing ball-to-ball information to a bookie,” said an officer.
0As per the Mumbai Police data, since March 20, 62,214 FIRs have been registered against 62,648 people for violating Covid-19 norms. While 28,903 people were arrested and released on bail, the rest were either served notices or named as wanted accused.
