NEW DELHI -
Indian cricketer and Rajasthan Royals player S Sreesanth on Friday confessed to spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), police said. "Sreesanth has confessed to spot-fixing. He was teary eyed during interrogation," a Delhi Police official said.
Rajasthan Royals cricketer Ankeet Chavan was the first to accept his role in spot-fixing during questioned by Delhi Police while the third player, Ajit Chandila, has not yet accepted the charges. The three were sent to five-day police custody on Thursday after being brought to Delhi from Mumbai, where they were arrested. The trio was questioned on Friday by officials of Delhi Police special cell. Besides the three cricketers, Delhi Police have also arrested 11 bookies for alleged spot-fixing.
Earlier, Ankeet Chavan too reportedly confessed to spot-fixing in IPL matches. Even as the families and lawyers of the three arrested Rajasthan Royals players on Friday maintained they were innocent. According to police, the three accused, have been kept at the Lodhi Colony special cell of Delhi Police.
The first to break down was Chavan, a senior police official said. "He broke down when we questioned him. He accepted that he made a mistake. He also accepted his role in the spot-fixing," he added. The three IPL players were on Thursday remanded to five days' police custody after their arrest in Mumbai late the previous day. But, the official said Chavan's other two teammates - Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila - have, however, not yet accepted the charges.
Chavan's family and lawyers claimed the cricketer was innocent. "It is said that small fish are easier to catch, that is what has happened here too," Chavan's brother said. "He is innocent, we know that. He has struggled a lot," he told reporters. Deepak Prakash, Sreesanth's lawyer, said, "Sreesanth has been falsely or mistakenly arrested. They (Delhi Police) have got some wrong information or mistakenly arrested him."
Asked about Chavan's confession, he said: "They (players) have to confess before the court. Police can say anything, it has no value at all. Anyway, Sreesanth has not confessed. Though his name has been involved, there is no issue with Sreesanth. He will fight it out," Prakash told reporters outside the special cell office. The third cricketer's lawyer Rakesh Kumar, however, accused the Delhi Police of framing the cricketer.
"He is innocent, there is no evidence against him. It is a cooked-up story by police. It is a scandal," Kumar said. "Delhi Police is deliberately raking the controversy to divert media attention from other issues. Unlawful and illegal procedures were adopted to tape his conversations," he said. Delhi Police said more teams have been sent to other states to conduct raids.
Besides the three cricketers, Delhi Police also arrested 11 bookies for alleged spot-fixing. Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, meanwhile, congratulated Delhi Police for the investigation. "I congratulate the Delhi Police. Whenever they do good work, I appreciate them," he said on the sidelines of a function here. Asked about the underworld link in the betting racket, he said: "Police is investigating, it is a preliminary comment." Police said Pakistani links and the involvement of the Mumbai underworld have surfaced in the investigations.
The Delhi Police is likely to quiz Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid and co-owners Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in the IPL spot-fixing case. All three have to appear before Delhi Police on May 21.
Chandila has also named two more players, both batsmen, who were involved in spot-fixing during the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League, say police sources. 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.
BCCI chief N Srinivasan told NDTV that if found guilty, players would be given strict punishment. He however added that he would wait for the report of the disciplinary committee before taking a final decision. "If what's happened is true, greed has taken over," he said.
Indian Premier League Chairman Rajeev Shukla on Friday warned of "strongest possible action" against those players found guilty of spot-fixing in the ongoing edition of the cash-rich league. "We have called an emergency Working Committee meeting in Chennai on Sunday. We will discuss the entire issue before deciding the future course of action," Shukla told PTI.
"We will be taking some important decisions. The strongest possible action will be taken against the guilty. Whoever is found to be involved in spot-fixing, will not be spared," he said. He said the BCCI's anti-corruption unit, headed by Ravi Sawani, has been asked to investigate the matter and submit its report. "If we have Sawani's preliminary report by Sunday, we will go through it and discuss it," he said. Shukla said the IPL Governing Council will try its best to keep the tournament clean and ensure that it's image does not take a further beating. The IPL Chairman also thanked the Delhi police for unearthing the spot-fixing scandal.
Among those being questioned today is Amit Singh, a former Rajasthan Royals player who the police suspect was the middleman between bookies and players. Police sources said Singh seemed to have been used as a "talent-spotter" by the bookies, to suggest spot-fixing to his former teammates.
Police sources now say all Rajasthan Royals matches in this edition of the IPL are being looked at closely. The police, during their investigations in this case over the last two months have also reportedly found out that bookies hosted a party in Mumbai in mid-April, where they invited six Rajasthan Royals players, but most did not turn up. The police are trying to find out if the players were contacted later by the bookies.
Apart from three players and one former player, 10 bookies were arrested yesterday. Six more were detained in Chennai today and the police said at least Rs. 14 lakh in cash has been recovered in searches conducted across the city.