NEW DELHI: India’s cricket board has extended a match-fixing crackdown toregional leagues after the arrest of a team owner for making illegal betswith a Dubai-based bookie, officials said Wednesday.
Ashfaq Ali Thara, owner of a team in the Karnataka Premier League — astate-level T20 competition — was arrested in Bangalore on Tuesday, policesaid.
Thara, who also owns a team in the Dubai T10 League, is under investigationfor placing bets with a Dubai bookie, and is also being quizzed over apossible role in fixing matches.
“He has been arrested for betting and they are investigating otheraspects,” Ajit Singh, chief of the anti-corruption unit of the Board ofControl for Cricket in India, told AFP.
The incident comes a week after the unit launched an inquiry into anapproach by suspected match-fixers to players in this years Tamil NaduPremier League.
A member of the Indian women’s team was also approached by a bookie, andtwo suspects handed over to Karnataka police.
Singh, a former director-general of police, said there is now a greaterfocus on state-level leagues.
“The vigilance and awareness have increased and people are coming forwardwith it,” he said.
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“We have been conducting education classes for the players. We have been intouch with the associations also.”
Gambling in India is illegal except in lotteries or horse racing, butthousands of bets are placed with illegal bookmakers at home and abroad onall aspects of — from the result to the number of runs in a specific over.
There is also no law to check online gambling that is making its way intothe Indian sports market, including cricket.
The Indian Premier League, the world’s wealthiest national league, was hitby a spot-fixing scandal in 2013 which resulted in two-year bans on twoteams.
Many T20 leagues — including the Pakistan Super League, Bangladesh PremierLeague and Dubai league—- have had their own fixing scandals which led tobans on players. -APP/AFP
