Establishing the money trail behind the IPL spot fixing, the Special Cell of the Delhi police on Wednesday claimed that Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila was given Rs 15 lakh in advance by a bookie in Chandigarh to deliver a compromised over in the IPL match played on 17 May. However, police struck a day before the match and unearthed the entire fixing saga.
According to the special commissioner of police (Special Cell, Delhi police), S N Srivastava, the interrogation of the arrested accused including the three tainted players, revealed that there were three sets of bookies involved in the entire spot-fixing plot. Srivastava said, 'Chandila was already in touch with the first set of bookies, led by Chandresh Patel and Manan, S Sreesanth was in contact with the second set headed by Jiju Janardan with assistance from Sunil Bhatia, Kiran Dole and Manish Yadav. The third set of bookies was headed by Deepak Kumar (35), along with another Chandigarh-based bookie. Besides the first set, Chandila was also in close contact with the third group.
'Deepak, a property dealer by profession, organised a meeting in Chandigarh in April, where he introduced Chandila to another bookie, who is presently on the run. His name is being withheld.
In the meeting, Chandila was made an advance payment of Rs 15 lakh to deliver a compromised over in the Rajasthan Royals versus Sunrisers Hyderabad match, scheduled for 17 May.
However, before the spot-fixing could take place, a Special Cell team struck in Mumbai and revealed the entire fixing saga, with the arrest of 14 persons, including the three tainted players on 16 May,' said the police.
The 17 May match was said to be the fifth match targeted by the bookies for spot-fixing, apart from the matches played on 5, 9, 12 and 15 May.
However, the match played on 12 May couldn’t be fixed, as the two players whom the bookies had roped in could not play the match.
Police said that so far investigations have revealed that Chandila received Rs 25 lakh for the 5 May match from the first set of bookies and Rs 15 lakh for the 17 May match from the third set of bookies. He also received Rs 9 lakh from another set of bookies, but had to return Rs 20 lakh as he forgot to indicate the compromised over to the bookies.
On the other hand, former Ranji player, Babu Rao Yadav, who played the ICL tournament between 2007 and 2008, along with Sunil Bhatia, told investigators that Bhatia had assured him that he can get him selected in the Bangladesh Premiere League (BPL), as he knew some Bangladeshi players and bookies. BPL was a professional Twenty-20 cricket league played in Bangladesh in 2012. After the ICL was banned, Yadav played in Kolkata League but was not satisfied with the comparatively low payment.
Bhatia and Yadav went to Bangladesh, but an official of ICC's anti-corruption unit spotted Bhatia during the BPL matches, after which both came back to India.
Delhi police is expected to arrest four more cricketers in connection with IPL spot-fixing scandal, informed sources.
The arrests will be made based on Sreesanth's confessions during police interrogations, added the source.
Despite reports of Sreesanth's confession before Delhi police, his lawyer sent an email to media organisations, in which Sreesanth has overruled all allegations against him saying, 'I am innocent and have done no wrong. I have never indulged in any spot fixing. I have always played cricket with the spirit of the game...' added the Kerala pacer in his statement.
AFTER SC, HC REFUSES TO BAN IPL
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Centre for taking control over the Indian Premier League by separating it from BCCI in view of irregularities including spot-fixing cropping up in the cash-rich cricket tournament.
A bench of chief justice D Murugesan and justice Jayant Nath, however, refused to ban the IPL in view of the apex court's Tuesday order refusing to pass such order.
The bench asked the petitioner, NGO Association for Social and Humanitarian Affairs, to amend its petition by deleting the prayer for ban and posted the matter for hearing on its another plea seeking government control on IPL to 23 August.
According to the special commissioner of police (Special Cell, Delhi police), S N Srivastava, the interrogation of the arrested accused including the three tainted players, revealed that there were three sets of bookies involved in the entire spot-fixing plot. Srivastava said, 'Chandila was already in touch with the first set of bookies, led by Chandresh Patel and Manan, S Sreesanth was in contact with the second set headed by Jiju Janardan with assistance from Sunil Bhatia, Kiran Dole and Manish Yadav. The third set of bookies was headed by Deepak Kumar (35), along with another Chandigarh-based bookie. Besides the first set, Chandila was also in close contact with the third group.
'Deepak, a property dealer by profession, organised a meeting in Chandigarh in April, where he introduced Chandila to another bookie, who is presently on the run. His name is being withheld.
In the meeting, Chandila was made an advance payment of Rs 15 lakh to deliver a compromised over in the Rajasthan Royals versus Sunrisers Hyderabad match, scheduled for 17 May.
However, before the spot-fixing could take place, a Special Cell team struck in Mumbai and revealed the entire fixing saga, with the arrest of 14 persons, including the three tainted players on 16 May,' said the police.
The 17 May match was said to be the fifth match targeted by the bookies for spot-fixing, apart from the matches played on 5, 9, 12 and 15 May.
However, the match played on 12 May couldn’t be fixed, as the two players whom the bookies had roped in could not play the match.
Police said that so far investigations have revealed that Chandila received Rs 25 lakh for the 5 May match from the first set of bookies and Rs 15 lakh for the 17 May match from the third set of bookies. He also received Rs 9 lakh from another set of bookies, but had to return Rs 20 lakh as he forgot to indicate the compromised over to the bookies.
On the other hand, former Ranji player, Babu Rao Yadav, who played the ICL tournament between 2007 and 2008, along with Sunil Bhatia, told investigators that Bhatia had assured him that he can get him selected in the Bangladesh Premiere League (BPL), as he knew some Bangladeshi players and bookies. BPL was a professional Twenty-20 cricket league played in Bangladesh in 2012. After the ICL was banned, Yadav played in Kolkata League but was not satisfied with the comparatively low payment.
Bhatia and Yadav went to Bangladesh, but an official of ICC's anti-corruption unit spotted Bhatia during the BPL matches, after which both came back to India.
Delhi police is expected to arrest four more cricketers in connection with IPL spot-fixing scandal, informed sources.
The arrests will be made based on Sreesanth's confessions during police interrogations, added the source.
Despite reports of Sreesanth's confession before Delhi police, his lawyer sent an email to media organisations, in which Sreesanth has overruled all allegations against him saying, 'I am innocent and have done no wrong. I have never indulged in any spot fixing. I have always played cricket with the spirit of the game...' added the Kerala pacer in his statement.
AFTER SC, HC REFUSES TO BAN IPL
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Centre for taking control over the Indian Premier League by separating it from BCCI in view of irregularities including spot-fixing cropping up in the cash-rich cricket tournament.
A bench of chief justice D Murugesan and justice Jayant Nath, however, refused to ban the IPL in view of the apex court's Tuesday order refusing to pass such order.
The bench asked the petitioner, NGO Association for Social and Humanitarian Affairs, to amend its petition by deleting the prayer for ban and posted the matter for hearing on its another plea seeking government control on IPL to 23 August.