IPL 2013 spot-fixing controversy: S Sreesanth was seen as a vulnerable target by bookies
S Sreesanth (above) and his Rajasthan Royals teammates Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested for spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League 2013 © PTI
New Delhi: May 22, 2013
Interrogation of bookies revealed on Wednesday that they viewed S Sreesanth as a ‘soft target’, which began with the cricketer seen crying after allegedly being slapped by Harbhajan Singh, during the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008.
Police are yet to confirm any of the claims, but if the bookies are to be believed, they tried to lure Sreesanth long ago but it took them several months to get to meet him.
According to Times of India, Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother and aide, Anees Ibrahim, allegedly passed on instructions to Sunil Ramchandani also known as Sunil Dubai to get more information about Sreesanth using his contacts in cricket teams and celebrities.
The source went on to say that the Kerala pacer often broke down during parties and spoke about the slapping incident, saying he was ‘backstabbed.’ He had recently tweeted about the same.
These bits of information alongwith ‘rumours’ that he was being treated differently in the dressing room, helped the bookies to zero in on him.
Once Dubai and bookies managed to get to Sreesanth, another bookie Ramesh Vyas was asked to make the next move. Vyas spoke to two more bookies about ‘roping’ in players. Their conversations were being intercepted by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Vyas was recently arrested by Mumbai Police.
They first mistook it as ‘coded exchanges between terrorists’ before figuring out the real motive. DCP Sanjeev Yadav led a team to monitor the case and special CP SN Shrivastava formed a team to gather more information on the betting syndicate and players involved.
Meanwhile, another bookie Tikku Mandi also known as Ashwani, contacted former Rajasthan Royals player Amit Singh to arrange for a meeting with Sreesanth. Amit spoke to Jiju Janardhan who was a good friend of Sreesanth. Jiju then fixed the meeting.
Sources also claimed that Sreesanth was a tough nut to crack as they tried getting him into fixing. The bookies applied all the tricks of trade including calls made from Dubai, after which Jiju convinced Sreesanth to spot-fix.
The bookies also tried to rope in other players. Ranji cricketers like Manish Gudewar and Baburao Yadav were roped in to arrange meeting with Ajit Chandila who agreed in a few meetings.