Essex Police clears Kaneria's name in fixing: Lawyer

Ever since the news broke last year that Essex Police was questioning two Essex players for match-fixing during a Pro-40 match against Durham last September, name of Kaneria was doing the rounds for being one of the two in media.

The police never took any player's name but media reports said they were Kaneria and Marvyn Westfield. Kaneria's lawyer in England Furqan Anwar said his client has been cleared in the case.

"The Essex police has cleared Danish as they didn't find any concrete evidence to support the allegations against him," Anwar told PTI. Anwar said that his client had been under lot of stress because of the allegations.

"He is free to do anything and he is obviously relieved. I will be talking to him soon to find out if he has any intention of filing damages," Anwar said. Kaneria's clearance comes at a time when Pakistan cricket is facing a major spot-fixing and betting scandal which broke out last month during the Lord's Test.

Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their alleged involvement in the scam.

The Scotland Yard and ICC anti-corruption unit are investigating into the case and all three have been questioned at the Kilburn police station. Kaneria was allowed to play for Essex this season until September 15 by the police while they were conducting investigations into the betting allegations.

Kaneria said he would not make any comments on the case and was just relieved to be cleared of any charges. "It has been a trying time for me and my family but I am grateful to all those people at Essex who supported me in this time. I just want to focus on my cricket and getting back to playing for Pakistan," he said. The leg-spinner was surprisingly released from the touring Pakistan team in England because of poor form after the first Test against.