Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan arrested by Delhi police

Spot-fixing alleged, more arrests likely. Top Australian player under the scanner.

Yahoo! Cricket 

Ajit Chandila, S. Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan

Three Rajasthan Royals players, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, were detained early on Thursday morning by the Delhi police for allegations of spot-fixing.

The BCCI has swiftly moved in to suspend all three cricketers pending investigation.

Seven bookies in Mumbai and three in Delhi have also been detained along with the three.

IS BOOKIE SREESANTH'S COUSIN?

Times Now has reported that one of the bookies arrested, Jiju Janardhanan, may be Sreesanth's cousin. Janardhanan seems to have been a domestic cricketer.

AUSTRALIAN PLAYER UNDER SCANNER

The Delhi commissioner of police Neeraj Kumar said “more arrests are likely”. He did not mention if the arrests would be of players, administrators or bookies.

It is learnt that a top Australian player in the IPL is also under the police scanner and could be arrested next.

NDTV said — and this is totally unconfirmed — that cash worth Rs 1.2 crore was discovered in the hotel room of one of Rajasthan Royals' foreign players.

The arrests were made under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

PTI reported that Sreesanth was picked up by the police from a friend's place in Mumbai, while the other two were held at the team hotel after Wedneday night's game against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium.

Rajasthan had lost that game by 14 runs.

Other media sources report that two foreign players and 12 IPL matches are also under the scanner. The police tapped 74 mobile phones over 25 days before making the arrests.

CHANDILA'S WIFE SARITA REACTS

NDTV spoke to Chandila's family in Faridabad:

"He has been doing well for the last two-three years for Rajasthan. People are jealous of him. It's a conspiracy," said Sarita.

"He can't do such things. He doesn't have to. We have no clue why he should fix matches but the media is already calling him guilty. We are behind him," said Ajit's sister-in-law, Usha.

SREESANTH'S FATHER BLAMES DHONI, HARBHAJAN

Malyalam Manorama has quoted Sreesanth's father as saying that India captain MS Dhoni and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (who was involved in the slapping controversy with Sreesanth) are behind the arrests.

Santhakuran Nair accused Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh of "trapping him in spot-fixing."

"Dhoni had once threatened Sreesanth," he said. Meanwhile, Sreesanth's mother said that he is not a person who "runs after money" and this "might be a trap to defame him."

His brother-in-law, Madhu Balakrishnan, a leading south Indian playback singer, said that the trap was a plot to "destroy Sreesanth’s marriage plans."

"DEAD AGAINST MATCH-FIXING" [Link]

Balakrishnan said the cricketer had been upset for the past many days and was seen crying. He added that Sreesanth told his parents that he was upset about not being allowed to play in some of the IPL matches.

"He is dead against match-fixing, and can never do anything like that. He told his parents that he was fully fit but was not being allowed to play. We are certain that he will do no wrong."

SECOND SPOT-FIXING SCANDAL IN TWO YEARS

This is the second spot-fixing and corruption controversy to dog the IPL in two years. In 2012, five cricketers were banned for various terms for an assortment of crimes. While the one-year bans handed to Amit Yadav, Mohnish Mishra and Abhinav Bali ended this week, a life-ban was handed to TP Sudhindra and a five-year ban to Shalabh Srivastava.

BCCI'S REACTION

The full text of the BCCI's press statement:

The BCCI is shocked and saddened at the recent developments. The BCCI has zero tolerance to corruption. We will offer all cooperation to the Delhi police and all other authorities in their investigations in this matter. The IPL Governing Council has met and decided that the cricketers found involved will be dealt with severely.

As of now, the 3 players viz; Ankeet Chavan, Ajit Chandila and S. Sreesanth stand suspended pending enquiry. All information required to bring the persons involved to book will be collected and strictest action will be taken, if found guilty.

The BCCI engages the services of the anti corruption wing of the ICC to educate and monitor players and support staff in prevention of corruption of any form in the game. In fact, it is wholly unfortunate that despite such education, best playing conditions and terms of engagement offered, some players seem to be indulging in such activity.

SUNIL GAVASKAR'S REACTION

"We need to remember that people are innocent till proven guilty. The T-20 format is such that unorthodox things are tried, sometimes they come off, sometimes they don't. I don't think there has been anything in the IPL that has raised my eyebrows."

FIXING CARTEL INFILTRATING SCHOOLS [Link]

The Indian Premier League (IPL) betting syndicate has got the capital’s schoolchildren in its sights now. Children from Delhi’s top schools are increasingly getting involved in betting through bookies.

A Mail Today Investigation discovered that seven children have recently been withdrawn from their institutions after being caught with hands in the betting till. A new mobile phone application, or app, that can be easily downloaded on android phones is driving this trend.

Called ‘bet-droid viewer’, the app gives information on betting rates across teams. Teenagers are hooked. They get in touch first with the punters (middlemen of bookies), who in turn connect them to bookies.

OFFICIAL REACTION FROM RAJASTHAN [Link]

"We have been informed that 3 of our players have been called in for investigation on spot fixing in matches. We are completely taken by surprise. We do not have the full facts at this point and are unable to confirm anything. We are in touch with the BCCI on this matter. We will fully cooperate with the authorities to ensure a thorough investigation. The management at Rajasthan Royals has a zero-tolerance approach to anything that is against the spirit of the game."



KUNDRA'S REACTION [Link]

Team owner Raj Kundra has tweeted: "Just when IPL was going on so smoothly without controversies I woke up to the news of 3 RR players alleged spot fixing."

"When asked the repeated question is IPL fixed my answer is always IPL teams CAN'T be fixed but individual players who lack integrity can" (sic).