Fraudsters who duped young cricketers of lakhs being probed

New Delhi: Following an official complaint by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Delhi Police has begun investigating the role of fraudsters who have duped budding cricketers of lakhs promising them berths in Ranji squads.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajiv Ranjan told Millennium Post that a case has been registered in this regard. "An investigation is going on. We cannot share further details," said Additional CP (crime).

Police sources said that the BCCI official reportedly informed city police that their Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) had received complaints of young cricketers being duped. "These youngsters were asked to cough up sums of money. They end up losing a lot of money and are not selected in the teams," BCCI told city police.

The apex cricket board further told police that in some cases, cricketers are given one chance to play and then turned away by fraudsters so that they can dupe unsuspecting young cricketers. "This illegal act operating in a very organized manner is causing great loss to the reputation of BCCI, the career of young cricketers and their hard earned money," the complainant told police.

In one of the cases, fraudsters cheated young cricketers of Rs 73 lakh on the pretext of providing a place in the Ranji Trophy team of a state. The suspects also organized a trial match in a north Indian state.