Bookie Tinku spill beans on spot-fixing scandal

Key bookie Ashwin Aggarwal alias Tinku Delhi has started to sing like a canary and has been dropping details of his association with players and other bookies.

Key bookie Ashwin Aggarwal alias Tinku Delhi has started to sing like a canary and has been dropping details of his association with players and other bookies.

Sources said Tinku has told the crime branch that he suffered loses worth Rs. 75 lakh after meeting Rajasthan Royals (RR) players Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan.

Sources said though the case of the Mumbai crime branch was still only limited to betting, they were looking into the spot-fixing angle. But so far all Tinku has said has been covered in the Delhi police’s case.

Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (Crime) said they were questioning Tinku and no decision on questioning any player has been made.

Tinku claims that he met Chandila and Chavan through another Nagpur based bookie Sunil Bhatia on March 20 at the Ashoka hotel in Delhi. “It was here that spot fixing was discussed. Chandila told Tinku that he would not fix the first few matches as he was hopeful of getting into the Indian team,” a source said adding that first the bookies wanted the players to remove a white watch from their pocket as a signal for spot fixing but it was discarded as sometimes in daylight it was not possible to spot a white watch. “Later on it was decided that the players would touch a ‘Hanuman’ locket as a signal. Chandila was paid Rs. 20 lakh in advance.

As per Tinku, the first spot fixing was done in the RR Versus Mumbai Indians match held on April 17 at Jaipur. Bhatia was present in the stadium as the signal from Chandila was to come during breaks and TV channels run commercials during breaks. “When Chandila gave a signal, Bhatia called up Tinku. Tinku in turn called Jupiter and placed bets of Rs. 30 lakh on 14 runs to be scored in an over bowled by Chandila. But Chandila gave just six runs in two overs and Tinku lost money,” the source said adding Chandila later told Tinku he could not be blamed as the batsman did not score.

Again on April 22, in a match between RR versus Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chennai, Chandila gave the signal. Tinku placed bets on 62 runs being scored in a particular session. However only 58 runs were scored in the session. This time Tinku lost Rs. 25 lakh. Sources said Tinku beat up Chandila in the Tihar jail recently for not keeping his word.