IPL scandal: Sreesanth, 3 others sent to judicial custody


New Delhi, May 28 (PTI): Arrested cricketers S Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila besides two bookies were today remanded in judicial custody till June 4 by a Delhi court which rejected the investigators' plea for two more days of custodial interrogation of the Indian pacer in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal case.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma turned down the plea of Special Cell of Delhi Police for the custody of Sreesanth saying he cannot be held liable for what has happened at his back.

"Admittedly, Sreesanth cannot be held liable for instances at his back. I am of the considered opinion that it would amount to injustice to the accused," the court said on the police argument that immediately after his arrest, his hotel room was cleaned up and some articles were removed.

The court also pulled up the investigators for not showing any fresh ground to take the custody of Sreesanth, saying as to why he should be handed to "your hospitality" for two days.

"How will you (investigators) establish that the removed articles belong to Sreesanth as anyone can plant to falsely implicate him," the court said. It also sent Chandila and two bookies Ashwani Aggarwal and Chandresh Patel to judicial custody after the police said they were no more required for custodial interrogation.

The court dismissed the bail plea of Rajasthan Royals player Ankeet Chavan, while the bail of Sreesanth will be heard on June 4.

During the course of arguments, Senior Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan informed the court that interception of various calls suggested that several big names may be involved in the episode as calls were made to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The police said there are some missing links and they are working on it.

"We are missing the link of the whole episode which will be proved very soon," the prosecutor said, adding, "Some big names are also involved which I cannot disclose at this stage and they were in regular contact with D company."

While seeking custody of Sreesanth, the prosecutor told the court that Abhishek Shukla has joined investigation and he allegedly had cleaned the cricketer's hotel room immediately after his arrest.

He also said that Sreesanth has to be confronted with Shukla who might have removed the electronic gadgets and data kept in the cricketer's room and at pacer's instance Rs 5 lakh have to be recovered as his friend Jiju Janardhan had taken Rs 10 lakh on his behalf.

The police told the court that the bills of the parties thrown by Sreesanth were paid by Abhishek Shukla as his (Shukla's) PAN card number was mentioned on the bills.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Sreesanth, opposed the plea for police custody saying it is completely unjustified after he being interrogated in its custody for 12 days. She said the grounds of police custody are "so completely untenable".

She also said the police theory that some articles were removed from Sreesanth's hotel room was also untenable as the room was unattended for three days and it was Mumbai Police which had later recovered a laptop from his room.

Meanwhile, the court directed the Tihar Jail authorities to produce accused Ashwini before a Mumbai court, which had issued production warrant against him. It also said that he should be brought back before June 4.

The court had earlier remanded other accused Babu Rao Yadav, a former Ranji player, cricketer Ankit Chavan and three more bookies - Jiju Janardhan, Deepak Kumar and Manan Bhat - in judicial custody till June 4.

Delhi Police has so far arrested 22 accused in connection with the spot fixing scandal case and except four bookies all others are in judicial custody.

Arrested bookie Bhupender Nagar, Sayed Durez Ahmed and Sunil Saxena are in police custody till May 30. Bookie Mohd Yahya is also in police custody.

Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila, who were playing for IPL's Rajasthan Royals franchise, were arrested in Mumbai by Delhi Police for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing in IPL matches for payments of up to Rs 60 lakh just for giving away pre-determined number of runs in an over.

These three players, who have been suspended by the BCCI, and the others arrested have been booked under section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

On May 21, the police had informed the court that section 409 of the IPC, which deals with criminal breach of trust and entails a maximum of life imprisonment along with fine, has been invoked against all the accused in the case.

The police had said they had added section 409 IPC as the agreement concerning IPL is a tripartite agreement between BCCI, Rajasthan Royals and the player and the agreement was an exclusive contract.

Regarding Sreesanth and other two cricketers, police had said they had used various signs like putting towel in pocket for a fixed over and exercising before the over to give time to bettors to place their stakes.

  

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Comment on this article

  • jeevan, mangalore

    Tue, May 28 2013

    Sreesanth... MP seat from congi in kerala is reserved for you......

    DisAgree [1] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • jeetendra hegde, mumbai

    Tue, May 28 2013

    For one and half month ,IPL game itself fooled indian public and now the investigation agencies fooling the public in the name of by unearthing the fixing and Betting scams.see how this shameless sree 420 (sreeshanth)waving victory symbol in court premises in front of policemen...,Simply mockery of judiciary system...

    DisAgree Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Joe Britto, Nakre/Bangalore

    Tue, May 28 2013

    Why are political heavyweights so silent about Srinivasan?
    'In 1960's a Cricketer would earn just Rs 300 /Test Match.He had to depend on his job for survival . Only the Maharaja's could afford to play full time.The Nawab of Pataudi Jr.taught us how to win matches . 1970's saw the era of Ad's and it was not just Brylcream and Palmolive where the earnings were just pennies, but the ad firms- TV that gave cricketers the taste of big money. 1980's :The 1983 world cup win was a watershed as India become Kings in the so called Pyjama One day 60 over cricket . The entry of Match Fixing in its crude form in 1990's soon had its toll on cricket leaders in S.Africa & India. The new century heralded the death knell of Test Cricket and the entry of pyjama less era in cricket - T20 which gratified all big & small. The greed of the Cricketers , those in control of the game , and gamblers knew no end.The few ancient retired Test Cricketers and advocates of the once Gentleman's game were truly bowled over lock stock & barrel by the richest cricket board in the world.Those few who really mattered never objected to the vagaries of T20 and the great temptations it offered the young gullible cricketers were visibly there .

    The time has come to save Test Cricket and have a acceptable IPL & IMPORTANLY legalise betting. At present it really is obvious that money has indeed silenced all and sundry . Is it not shocking that there is not ONE politician who is involved in Cricket and there is not ONE cricketer that really matters who is ready to call a spade a spade and cleanse the dirty pitch. Just a handful of small time Cricketers are behind the bars.Cricket owes its existence to the numerous FANS and not the BCCI.

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  • Ravi Bhaskar Shenava, MANGALORE

    Tue, May 28 2013

    What happened to the Promise of Delhi Police commissioner given on Saturday, that on Sunday just before final IPL match he will release the names of Four more players who are involved in match fixing. Why he went back on his promise ?.
    It is quite clear that there was a pressure from vested interests not to disclose the name of other players involved in match fixing.
    This is also a sort of Match-Fixing between Police and the Vested Interests.
    Whole India is involved in one or the other kind of match-fixing in their life.

    DisAgree Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse

  • Vincent Rodrigues, Katapadi/Bangalore

    Tue, May 28 2013

    Good, the culprits in match fixing are sent to the judicial custody for further investigation.But,we regret to note that nobody else from the owners and BCCI are caught inspite of everybody involved in this venture.IPL is a mockery and now investigation seems to be a eye wash.Please stop misguiding people and start understanding their feelings and sentiments.Don't kill cricket which is a religion in India.Thanq.

    DisAgree Agree [6] Reply Report Abuse


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Title: IPL scandal: Sreesanth, 3 others sent to judicial custody



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