JOIN USCentral Crime Branch sleuths arrested Nishanth Singh Shekawat, a batsman playing for Bengaluru Blasters, in connection with an international betting scam in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL).
Joint commissioner of police (crime) Sandeep Patil said Shekawat was arrested after it was found during investigation that he was in touch with bookies and contacted Vinu Prasad to fix players. Prasad, a bowling coach of Bengaluru Blasters, has already been arrested in the case.
Investigations revealed that Shekawat took several crores of rupees from bookies and handed it over to Prasad to book players. Prasad paid Rs 5 lakh to batsman Vishwanath to play a slow innings to ensure a drop in the scoring rate to let bookies earn more, a senior officer said.
Vishwanath has also been arrested in the case. "We suspect the involvement of more players in the case and are interrogating them," said another senior officer.
Shekawat is accused of introducing Vinu and Vishwanath to bookies, including Jattin and Sayyam against whom a lookout circular was been issued on Monday.
Shekawat is a native of Kota in Rajasthan and is a right-hand batsman and right-arm bowler.
After taking up the case, the CCB arrested five accused, including Shekawat, Ali Asfak Thara, the owner of KPL team Belagavi Panthers, Bhuvanesh, a drummer of Ballari Tuskers, Vinu Prasad and Vishwanath.