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ICC had tipped off agencies before T20 league started
The ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) had possibly sniffed the match-fixing and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian T20 league way before this year's tournament started. Presley Thomas reports.
The ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) had possibly sniffed the match-fixing and spot-fixing scandal in the Indian T20 league way before this year's tournament started. Apart from warning Meiyappan, a delegation of ICC had met politicians, and senior bureaucrats in Delhi and Mumbai, and sought for a detailed probe into the scandal, said police sources.
A detailed plan was chalked, and specific agencies were asked to probe the cricket betting syndicate which involved prominent cricketers, bollywood stars and bookies.
Tasks assigned
Each agency was given a specific task with Delhi leading the Rajasthan Royals probe, and Mumbai asked to probe Chennai Super Kings, said police sources.
The ICC had provided them a list of people who they suspected, or in some cases where sure to be involved in the cricket betting or match fixing syndicate. And after taking appropriate sanctions, phone numbers of all the suspected persons including players, owners, support staff, player's wives and bookies were kept under surveillance.
"The surveillance was mounted for nearly a month before the T20 league started, and the lines were monitored through out the league season," said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity. In Mumbai, at least 25 telephone lines were scanned, and conversations were recorded which included those of top cricketers, bollywood stars, models and bookies.
The involvement of Meiyappan, Vindoo, Aggarwal and of at least three other cricketers came to light through the conversation they had during the league, said police sources. Though Mumbai crime branch was the first to make any arrests into the scandal, it started off slow to investigate the cricket betting scenario because it had little idea of ACSU's role. This helped some key bookies like Shobhan Mehta alias Shobhan Kalachowkie, Jupiter, Surendra Bagri alias Junior Kolkatta, Pawan Jaipur and Sanjay Jaipur to escape from the country.
