File picture of Sreesanth
Abhishek Shukla, the friend of cricketer S Sreesanth who had been detained by the Delhi Police for his role in the IPL spot-fixing case, has formally been arrested. The police say Shukla had allegedly removed evidence from the tainted cricketer and his bookie friend Jiju Janardhan's hotel rooms in Mumbai.
Police says Shukla has now been taken to Mumbai for recoveries. Police are reportedly hoping he will help recover Rs 5 lakhs which they claim had been stashed away by Sreesanth and Janardhan in Mumbai.
Sreesanth had independently checked into a five-star hotel in suburban Mumbai on May 13, along with Jiju Janardhan, just two days before they were arrested over allegations of spot-fixing in the recently-concluded edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Jiju is the person who was allegedly dealing with other bookies on Sreesanth's behalf, police sources had said.
The Mumbai Police, which raided the hotel on the night of May 17, recovered a laptop, mobile phones, iPads and cash worth Rs. 72,000 from the two rooms in which Sreesanth and Jiju were staying. Diaries, written in English and Malayalam, were also recovered from the cricketer's room; cops say several of the entries were made by Sreesanth himself.
Both Sreesanth and Janardhan are in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi.
The Delhi Police has till now arrested 26 people as a part of the spot-fixing investigations. They have not ruled out more arrests.