Teams of Delhi Police's special cell have been sent to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata to conduct searches and track the money trail in the IPL spot-fixing case. One of them has reached cricketer Ajit Chandila's house in Faridabad for interrogation. Sources say that some of the alleged bookies who are in Delhi Police's custody have been taken along to help the cops gather evidence.
Here are 10 latest developments in the story
Mumbai Police raided a hotel in suburban Mumbai in connection with the betting case last night. Sources say Sreesanth had stayed there during his visit to the city and that police have seized some material, which has been sent for forensic testing. Details of what sort of material was seized is yet unknown.
SN Srivastava, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, Special Cell, told NDTV yesterday that the arrested Rajasthan Royals players - S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan - have confessed to spot-fixing in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League during their interrogation. However, these confessions are not admissible in a court of law as they have not been recorded before a magistrate.
IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla today said, "BCCI working committee will meet tomorrow in Chennai and the course of action will be decided after the preliminary report is submitted. Will have to keep cricket clean, the harshest punishment will be meted out," he said. Earlier, BCCI chief N Srinivasan had told NDTV that if found guilty, players would be given strict punishment.
Police sources claim that Sreesanth and Chavan were offered Rs. 40 lakhs and Rs. 60 lakhs respectively, and so far no cash has been recovered. Sources say that the money could have been routed through hawala channels, which brings the involvement of the Mumbai underworld under the scanner.
Police say that they have, among the hundreds of phone conversations intercepted in the case, traced some calls to Pakistan and Dubai. They claim that one of the arrested bookies, Ramesh Vyas has links with Sunil Dubai, an alleged mediator between bookies and Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim.(Read: The D-gang connection)
Police sources allege that Sreesanth has accused Jiju Janardhan of getting him into trouble. Jiju has played cricket for the same Kerala club as Sreesanth. On Thursday, the police released phone transcripts of a conversation purportedly between Jiju and another bookie discussing details of how Sreesanth would allegedly spot-fix in a match against the Kings XI Punjab last week.
Sreesanth's lawyer, Deepak Prakash, said there was no direct proof against his client and was emphatic in his rejection of any claim that Sreesanth might have confessed to spot-fixing. "I am very sorry to say that a person who hasn't committed any crime can't confess," he said on Friday.
Among those who were questioned on Friday is Amit Singh, a former Rajasthan Royals player who the police suspect was the middleman between bookies and players.
Police sources now say all Rajasthan Royals matches in this edition of the IPL are being looked at closely.
Apart from the three players and Amit Singh, 10 bookies were arrested on Thursday. Six more were detained in Chennai on Friday and the police said at least Rs. 14 lakh in cash has been recovered in searches conducted across the city.
