It seems Pandora's box has been opened and many more shocking reveletions are expected to pour out during the interrogation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scam suspects.
Two other Rajasthan Royals (RR) players Ajinkya Rahane and Brad Hodge are reportedly under the Delhi police scanner after cricketer-turned-bookie Amit Shah claimed during an interrogation that one of the matches between RR and Delhi Daredevils in IPL 5 might have been fixed, reported Firstpost.
"In the match, Rajasthan were chasing 152 runs and had lost only three wickets," a Delhi police official told Firstpost. Rahane and Hodge ended up scoring 11 runs of the final over, running short of a run for a win.
However, police are cautious as the revelation was made by a person facing prosecution. There is no legal standing on the claims unless it is placed before court.
The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested three bowlers - S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - of RR in Mumbai, over charges of spot-fixing in the ongoing IPL matches. They were later produced before the Saket Court and will be placed in custody for five days. Police have also detained 11 other bookies.
The players have been charged under section 240 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Ankeet Chavan reportedly broke down during questioning and confessed to making a mistake. "Yes, I did something wrong. Yes, I made a mistake," Times Now quoted him as saying.
It is also reported that Sreesanth has also confessed that Jiju Janardhan, a bookie, lured him into the betting racket, which his lawyer denied.
According to the Delhi police, the bowlers were asked to concede at least a given number of runs in an over so that the bookies could bet heavily and make profits. The bowlers give pre-decided signal through their accessories like wrist watches, wrist bands, towels etc before starting an over, for which they were paid upto ₹60 lakh.
Delhi commissioner Neeraj Kumar said the spot fixing happened on 5, 9 and 15 May.
According to the police, Chandila conceded 14 runs in the second over of his spell against the Pune Warriors India on 5 May, but he forgot to give the pre-decided signal. He was offered ₹40 lakh for the spell and ₹20 lakh was paid in advance. He had to return the amount as the bookies couldn't bet.
Sreesanth inserted a towel on his trouser in the match against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on 9 May, allegedly sending a signal to the bookies. He gave away 13 runs in that particular over. Then Ankit Chavan was offered ₹60 lakh to concede 13 or more runs in the match against Mumbai Indians on 15 May. His second over cost the team 15 runs.
The BCCI suspended all the three players in question after the news of their involvement in spot-fixing surfaced.
