Indian bowler's bail rejected as police hold actor

NEW DELHI (AFP) –

India’s Test pace bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth is pictured during a training session in Bangalore, southern India on March 3, 2011. Three Indian cricket players – including Sreesanth – were refused bail on Tuesday after they appeared in court on spot-fixing charges as police announced the arrest of a Bollywood actor over the scandal.

Three Indian cricket players were refused bail on Tuesday after they appeared in court on spot-fixing charges as police announced the arrest of a Bollywood actor over the scandal.

A court in New Delhi agreed a five-day custody extension for former Test paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two teammates from the Rajasthan Royals who are accused of deliberately bowling badly in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars during the ongoing Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition.

“Police said they wanted to interrogate them further and also conduct raids on their houses,” said S.K Rai, one of the prosecuting lawyers who was present at the hearing, told AFP.

Eleven other bookmakers who were arrested at the same time as the Rajasthan Royals players were also refused bail during the afternoon sitting.

Investigators told the court they had seized two million rupees (around $37,000) stashed in a cricket kit bag and hidden at the home to a relative of Ajit Chandila, one of the three Rajasthan Royals players in custody.

Police behind the arrests last week of Sreesanth, Chandila and their teammate Ankeet Chavan say the trio were acting under orders from international crime syndicates, whose bosses are based in the Gulf.

Sreesanth, who is the most famous of three having played 27 Tests for India, is alleged to have been paid four million rupees (about $75,000) to give away 14 runs in an over in a match against Kings XI Punjab on May 9.

His teammates are said to have agreed to similar deals in two other IPL matches.

The Rajasthan Royals on Monday suspended the contracts of the three players and promised to cooperate fully with the authorities in their investigation.

“The franchise is in daily contact with the police authorities in Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai for providing any cooperation or information that they might require,” it said in a statement.

As the hearing was taking place in the capital, police in Mumbai said they had arrested the actor Vindu Dara Singh Randhawa, who is the son of the late Bollywood star Dara Singh, as part of the spot-fixing investigation.

“He has been arrested today,” Mumbai police spokesman Satyanarayan Choudhary told AFP, without giving further details.

And in a further blow to the IPL, a seven-week competition which is reaching its finale, the struggling Pune Warriors franchise announced it was pulling out of the tournament.

The decision is largely symbolic as the team has already finished their matches, finishing second from bottom of the tournament.