New names roll out in the IPL spot fixing scandal

A sensational claim by a Mumbai-based bookie has alleged that four players from Sunrisers Hyderabad have fixed an Indian Premier League (IPL) match for Rs. Six Crores. This claim came at the wake of the judgement given in the IPL spot fixing scandal a week ago.

The four players who have been named in the allegations are Sri Lankan international Thisara Perera, 2012 U19 World Cup winning member Hanuma Vihari, promising spinner Karan Sharma and Ashish Reddy, according to news report published in a local newspaper. The bookie recorded his statement in front of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch in its charge sheet filed on Saturday.

The bookie was arrested from a Mumbai hotel by the Delhi police special cell. According to the report, the bookie met the four players in Pune and had finalised the deal with the help of other bookies. It is being said that one of the players’ brother was the mediator in the deal.

In the statement given by Chandresh Shivlal Patel, one of the bookie, Pravin Thakkar, alias Pintu, introduced him to one Jitu Jain. Pintu furthered introduced Patel to Mannan, who was identified as friend of cricketer Amit Singh. Patel was also introduced to Yusuf and Amir by one of his friends in Mumbai.

“In the last week of March, Yusuf gave me Amir’s number and asked me to call Amir, who wanted to talk about IPL matches. When I called Amir, he told me to come to Hyderabad `to set’ an IPL match there. I informed Jitu about this and he asked me to take along Pintu to Hyderabad for the deal. I then went to Hyderabad with Pintu and Yusuf. Amir accommodated us in a hotel room,” Patel was quoted as saying the local daily.

“Amir told us that it would take Rs 5 crores to fix an IPL match in Hyderabad and Rs 1 crore will be mine (commission), so the total cost would come to Rs 6 crores.”

“Pintu informed Jitu about the offer, who in turn told us to finalise the deal if they could arrange a meeting with the players. Amir told us that he would arrange a meeting with the players on April 16 in Pune, but asked for an advance of Rs 50 lakh.”

“On April 16, Jitu, Pravin, Yusuf and I went to Pune, where at Le Meridien Hotel Amir’s friend Sunil introduced us to the mentioned Sunrisers players and Asahish Reddy’s brother Pritam Reddy,“ Patel said in the statement.

“Pritam asked me what I wanted to do, to which I said that the score should not cross 60 runs in 10 overs and 140 runs in 20 overs and Sunrisers should lose the match,“ Patel claims. “The next day, Amir called me and said that Pritam told him that the signal was that in the second over a Sunrisers Hyderabad player will get out,” claimed Patel.

Sunrisers Hyderabad played Pune Warriors India on April 17 and as mentioned by Amir, in the second over a Hyderabad player was dismissed. Jitu was said to have placed bets of 3.5 crores for the first 10 overs and 9 crores for overall result. Jitu won the bet, but however, lost the nine crore as Hyderabad won the match, which was not the deal.

When enquired regarding the involvement of Perera, the Sri Lankan Cricket board denied that Perera indulged in match-fixing during this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), saying that it has full faith in its players.

The four players who have been named in the scandal are currently playing in the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) representing the Sunrisers. The Sunrisers qualified for the tournament after finishing the qualifiers as runners up. The Shikhar Dhawan led outfit is set to make its debut in the CLT20 today against the Caribbean giants Trinidad and Tobago in Mohali.