NEW DELHI – A member of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team is underscrutiny for possible ties to a match-fixing syndicate that organised adomestic T20 tournament in Jaipur last July, The Indian Express has learnt.According to the report, the T20 tournament Rajputana Premier League (RPL)is under investigation and the former player in question had been spottedon the sidelines of the tournament.
RPL was first scrutinised last year by the Anti-Corruption Security Unit(ACSU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and is now beinginvestigated by Rajasthan Police’s CID.
The Indian Express quoting sources claimed the Rajasthan Police have foundthe mastermind of the “organised cricket racket” who partly bankrolled theRPL and has business links with a former international player whorepresented India in all three formats of the game.
“The former player had been spotted on the sidelines of the tournament thatwitnessed bizarre passages of play. For instance, sources said, a bowlerconceded eight byes by bowling “blatant wides” in the final over of a tightcontest,” the report said.
Following this, the BCCI requested Rajasthan Police to probe the league.
Fourteen persons were arrested for questioning last year for suspectedbetting and fixing activities linked to the RPL, including organisers,players, umpires and alleged bookies.Police received information regarding the former player from the suspects.
While all those arrested are out on bail, the case was transferred to theCID last November.The Additional DGP CID (Crime) Pankaj Kumar Singh said they are followingall leads.
He told The Indian Express, “We are currently probing links between privateentities, those who are part of the cricket fraternity and officials. Wewill take action if there is evidence that links them to corruption.”
However, he declined to discuss the involvement of the former Indiacricketer.
Hinting at the possibility of the case being a “high-profile” one,investigators said they’re relying on call detail records to connect thedots, sources said.
The report added that of late BCCI and police have joined hands to probeinto at least half-a-dozen ‘dubious’ domestic T20 leagues, with modusoperandi similar to the RPL.
It’s believed that organisers of such leagues make between INR20 million toINR30 million in a week.
Earlier, BCCI ACSU’s former chief and current adviser Neeraj Kumar hadcriticized the Indian board for what he called a ‘cavalier’ and‘indifferent’ approach towards having an adequately equipped ACSU.“Not even once can I recall a meeting in which you have chosen to discussthis issue.
Not even once have I been asked what the magnitude of the problem is andwhat needs to be done,” he had written in an email to BCCI CEO Rahul Johrilast December.—Agencies