New Delhi: S Sreesanth, India's Test cricketer, and his Rajasthan Royals team-mates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, will be soon questioned by the Delhi Police' special cell. They spent the previous night in police custody. The players are accused of
spot-fixing in three different Indian Premier League matches since last week and Delhi Police sources say 15 other Rajasthan Royals matches are now being looked at closely.
The police brought the three players in, they say, as they had enough evidence to prove spot-fixing. At a press conference on Thursday, the police read out phone transcripts and showed video clips of matches to join the dots in their allegation that the three Royals players had fixed overs in exchange for money from bookies. (
Read: Delhi Police explains spot-fixing arrests)
Police sources say they have more such taped phone conversations that suggest spot-fixing in the other matches under a scanner, but have been unable to match these with the behaviour of players on field yet. Among the 14 people arrested yesterday is also a former Rajasthan Royals player Amit Singh, who the police allege was the talent-spotter for bookies and would get in touch with his former team-mates to suggest spot-fixing.
The special cell of the Delhi Police has been investigating spot-fixing in the IPL for months. In March this year, the Delhi Police chief said, they received a tip-off that the Mumbai underworld could be involved. He said they began tracking bookies on April 6 and had even stationed teams of policemen at matches where they suspected spot-fixing.
In April, police sources say, some bookies had arranged a party for six Rajasthan Royals players, but most did not turn up. The police are still investigating whether these players were tapped later by the bookies.
The bookies and players, the police said yesterday, had an elaborate process of signals and codes to indicate that a player would bowl a fixed over next, allowing bookies to place bets. In the case of Sreesanth, they alleged, that signal was a towel tucked into his waistband just before he began to bowl an over in a match on May 9 against the Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.
Ten bookies have also been arrested yesterday. All the 14 people were produced before a Delhi court last evening and were remanded to five days in police custody. The police hope that their interrogation will yield more information.
The police chief, Neeraj Kumar, said no players from the other IPL teams were suspected to be involved in spot-fixing yet.