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Shame Game: More Royals under scanner

There seems to be no end to the woes of Rajasthan Royals (RR). Interrogation of cricketers and bookies arrested in the IPL 6 spot fixing case has pointed towards the involvement of more players from the Rahul Dravid-led club. While the three players arrested by the Delhi police on Thursday – S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, belong to Rajasthan Royals, investigations point to links between more players and betting syndicate bookie Amit Singh, who was also a former RR player. The Delhi police, however, has clarified that it had no plans to question Rajasthan Royals owners Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra and captain Rahul Dravid.

According to sources in the Delhi police, Amit Singh has claimed that two other RR players Ajankiya Rahane and Australian Brad Hodge were also part of the betting syndicate and they had taken part in fixing last year during a match against Delhi Daredevils. The Delhi police refused to confirm or deny the information coming. Amit Singh, who was also arrested late on Thursday night, has been suspended by the BCCI for being a mediator between the vulnerable players and the bookies. ‘Singh was also active in the spot fixing in 2012,’ a source added.

According to police sources, arrested bookie Chandresh Patel alias Jupiter, who is believed to have links with D-company, has confessed that the planning to lure cricketers started two months ago. ‘On 6 April, a party cum meeting was conducted at Country Club in Gurgaon and few players of Rajasthan Royals attended. Siddharth Trivedi and one more cricketer were approached to be part of spot fixing. But the duo refused. In fact, we bargained with them, but they didn’t agree,’ Jupiter is reported to have told the cops.  

According to the taped conversation that is in possession of the special cell of Delhi police IPL 5 was also spot fixed. Apart from the three matches in the ongoing IPL 6, another match that was played on 3 May is under scanner.

Ongoing interrogation with S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, who have been confronted with evidence of their involvement in spot fixing, has revealed that Chandila was the ‘talent spotter’ and played the vital role in establishing link. ‘He was active during the last IPL as well. As evidence we have the recent taped conversation with us in which he was talking to the bookie regarding his pre-determined performance during IPL-5,’ a source said.
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