Delhi Police has said it arrested Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan
- all Rajasthan Royals bowlers - for the alleged fulfilling of promises
made to alleged bookmakers during this year's IPL. The players were
allegedly promised money ranging from US$36,000 to 109,000 for each
over.
Eleven bookies have also been arrested. One of the middlemen has been
identified as Jiju Janardhan, described by the police as Sreesanth's
close friend and team-mate at the Ernakulam club. They have all been
taken into police custody for five days.
Neeraj Kumar, the commissioner of Delhi Police, provided a detailed
explanation of its investigation, which began in early April, but said
it had no evidence to suggest any other player, administrator or team
owner was involved. It has registered cases under the Indian Penal Code
section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating, and criminal
conspiracy. Kumar said Sreesanth was picked up from Carter Road in
Bandra, a Mumbai suburb. Chandila was arrested outside a hotel where an
allege
d bookie was staying. Chavan was picked up from the Royals team
hotel in Mumbai.
The police has identified the three matches where the alleged fix happened: against Pune Warriors on May 5, Kings XI Punjab on May 9 and Mumbai Indians on May 15.
Kumar said the deal was for the bowlers to concede a specified minimum
number of runs in a pre-decided over. He explained in detail how the
deals were struck, how the players allegedly indicated to the bookmakers
that the deal was on, and how they went on to concede those runs. He
said the police has the recordings of those tapped phone conversations.
Kumar said the police's investigation began with tip-offs that the
Mumbai underworld was involved in cricket corruption. He said their
earlier investigations revealed the three named players were in constant
touch with illegal bookmakers, and they waited for them to go through
their respective fixes before they arrested them. He said the police has
been investigating this since early April.
Chandila was alleged to have conceded 14 predetermined runs in his
second over against Warriors on May 5, but he forgot to indicate to the
alleged handlers he was going to do so. The police said he was pulled up
after the game, and was asked to return the advance of Rs 20 lakh
(US$36,512).
Sreesanth, the police said, was alleged to have made the appropriate
signal, which was to ask for a towel that he would tuck inside his
trousers before bowling his second over against Kings XI on May 9. He
was also alleged to have been asked to waste some time so that the
bookies can accept bets. This wasn't a new spell, the police said, but
Sreesanth asked for the towel and also did fresh warm-ups and stretching
exercises before he began the over.
The police alleged Sreesanth had promised to concede 14 runs in that
over. He went for 13. The police said the bookies leave themselves a bit
of cushion in these deals to cover for external factors. Kumar said the
bookies still made crores of rupees through that over. Sreesanth was
promised Rs 40 lakh (USD 73,024). Sreesanth wasn't given another over in
the match.
Kumar said they then waited for Chavan to go ahead with his fix, which
he said happened in the match against Mumbai, in Mumbai on May 15. The
police alleged that Chandila was the go-between man for this deal, and
that he spent the whole day training Chavan for the over. Chavan went
for just two in his first over, but conceded 15 in his second, the third
of Mumbai's innings.
Chavan's signal, the police said, was to fiddle with his wristband. The
police said Chandila spoke to a bookie soon after the match, and said
that the money - Rs 60 lakh (US$109,521) - should be delivered to him
and not Chavan. Kumar said this was the point at which they went ahead
with the arrest.
Kumar said their investigators went to the grounds so that they could
keep an eye on the signals before the allegedly corrupt overs. He said
the police was sure the indicators were consistent with the pre-decided
signal. He also said the fixed overs were supposed to be the respective
bowlers' second overs, irrespective of whether their side was bowling
first or second. The only pre-requisite was to let the bookies know the
deal was on, which they did through their signals.
Kumar hinted at underworld and overseas connections, but refused to name
anybody. He also said the anti-corruption unit employed by the cricket
organisers was not aware of what was going on. He said more arrests - of
bookies, and not players - could be expected in the coming days.
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