IPL spot-fixing: Sreesanth, other tainted cricketers to appear in court today

S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, the three suspended Rajasthan Royals players who are accused of alleged spot-fixing in the on-going IPL season, will be produced in a court in Delhi today. They were arrested by the Delhi Police on Thursday along with 10 alleged bookies and sent to five-day police custody. In the court today, the Delhi Police will seek further custody, sources say.


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Here are the top developments in the case:

1. IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals has suspended the contracts of the three players pending inquiry. It has also filed an FIR against its three arrested players for violating their contract.


2. The three cricketers were interrogated for the fifth straight day by the Delhi Police yesterday. They were questioned together for the first time. Sources say all three confessed to their crime, but blamed each other for dragging them into spot-fixing.

3. Sources also claimed that during his interrogation, Chandila had told the cops that a part of the cash he received for spot-fixing was stashed in his kit at a relative's house. The Delhi Police has reportedly recovered Rs. 20 lakh from the residence of one of his relatives during a raid.

 

4. Speaking to NDTV yesterday, Law Minister Kapil Sibal emphasised that there was a need for a separate law to deal with the menace of fixing in cricket as the Indian Penal Code does not recognise match-fixing and spot-fixing as offences. The minister also suggested that the government might introduce such a law in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

 

5. More than 20 people have been arrested from different cities in the massive scandal. The Delhi Police yesterday also collected voice samples of the three suspended Rajasthan Royals players. Cops will now match the samples with the recorded conversations. They say they have enough evidence to make a strong case against the three arrested players.

6. Yesterday, the Delhi Police also detained former Ranji player Baburao Yadav. He had allegedly introduced Sunil Bhatia, said to be a bookie, to Chandila. Yadav's family says he knew Sreesanth, but claim he is innocent.

7. The Mumbai Police, which is also probing the case, yesterday questioned a Bollywood casting director over his alleged links to spot-fixing. He had allegedly sent Sreesanth pictures and numbers of 13 models and small time actresses. The pacer was allegedly in touch with all these women, the police claim.



8. The Mumbai Police also questioned a woman model who, along with another model, was with Sreesanth in a car on the night the cricketer was arrested. The two women had allegedly doubled up as escorts.



9. Along with the Delhi and Mumbai Police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will also probe the spot-fixing case to find out if there was any money laundering involved.



10. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is conducting an internal inquiry into the spot-fixing scandal, will send an anti-corruption official with the team during the Champions Trophy to be held in England next month.