Delhi Police are looking to arrest a former Railways and Indian Cricket League cricketer for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing in the ongoing IPL.
S N Srivastava, special commissioner of police (special cell), identified the cricketer as Baburao Yadav, who hails from Maharashtra. Baburao was an associate of three bookies arrested in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district on Sunday.
“Baburao played his last match for Railways in 2007, and represented Ahmedabad Rockets and Hyderabad Heroes in the ICL,” sources said. Police, however, did not confirm the details.
Srivastava confirmed that Baburao was in touch with Sunil Bhatia, Kiran Dole and Manish Gudewa in Nagpur. Manish used to play Ranji Trophy for Vidarbha from 2003 to 2005, and is known to Rajasthan Royals cricketer Ajit Chandila since 2000.
Srivastava also highlighted the pattern of several former cricketers being a part of the fixing scam. “We already have Amit Singh, Jiju Janardhan and Manish Gudewa who played cricket at some level,” he said.
These former cricketers are said to be the link between cricketers and bookies, and help spot other players who could be involved in the betting racket.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked its anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani to file a report in the matter as soon as possible.
“Everybody is innocent till proven guilty. The BCCI will not cover up for anybody, but our actions must be fair. We will go through the process. If somebody is found guilty, we will act sternly,” said BCCI president N Srinivasan.
In a bid to check corruption, Srinivasan further said the board will appoint anti-corruption officer with each of the IPL franchises along with a security officer to monitor players’ movement.
He also said the players’ agents will have to take accreditation from the board.
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