BCCI to unveil guidelines in wake of IPL scandal

Dubai: The Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal has got even murkier with more evidence coming out and many more matches set to come under the scanner.

It is understood that more players are also likely to be involved and hence the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to announce strict guidelines on Sunday in an attempt to save face and rescue the reputation of the league.

N. Srinivasan, the BCCI president, will address an emergency working committee meeting at the Park Sheraton in Chennai. According to information, the BCCI is likely to even file cases seeking jail terms for the suspects S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajita Chandila.

The arrest of Amit Singh, the Gujarat and former Rajasthan Royals cricketer, and his revelations are likely to further tarnish the image of the IPL. He has apparently confessed that last year the Royals fixed a match by losing by one run despite needing only 12 runs to win from then last 12 balls with eight wickets in hand. Singh is alleged to have worked as a go-between bookmakers and the players and, during interrogation, he seems to have revealed the names of more players.

In order to restore their sagging image following the scandal involving many of its players, the Royals have launched an extensive internal investigation to present as many as details as possible to the BCCI. The team has decided to fully cooperate with the BCCI and the police in their investigations of the scandal.

Meanwhile, police have raided a five-star hotel where Sreesanth and his ‘friend’ Jiju Janardhanan had stayed in Mumbai. This hotel was different from Sreesanth’s team hotel.

The police have collected CCTV footage from the hotel on who had visited Sreesanth and Janardhanan during their stay. The Mumbai Police have also sought permission from the court to take a ‘mirror image’ of the laptop found in their room, while an iPad, mobile phones and a dairy have also been seized. Since parts of Sreesanth’s diary are in his mother tongue of Malayalam, it is being translated.

Police have also raided Chandila’s residence in Faridabad.

Delhi police have sent their officials to Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The Mumbai and Delhi police are working in close co-ordination, linking their evidences and also tracking the money trail.

The three cricketers are alleged to have received around Rs 6 million (Dh401,500) for giving away pre-determined numbers of runs.

Meanwhile, Chandila and Chavan’s employers, Air India, have suspended them. Both were employed on sports quotas — Chandila played for Air India Delhi and Chavan for the Mumbai office.

The arrest of bookie Ramesh Vyaas in Mumbai on Friday is likely to yield more insight into the scandal as police have seized 92 mobile phones and 18 sim cards from him.

Rajeev Shukla, the IPL Governing Council chairman, revealed that the punishments to be given to the three cricketers suspected of spot-fixing will be decided on Sunday in Chennai.