Rajputana Cricket League (RPL) match fixing scandal: 14 arrested, Rs 38.47 lakh seized
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Jaipur: The city police on Thursday arrested 14 of the 60 people who were detained from four hotels in the city in raids on Wednesday night and said that they were involved in fixing the matches of Rajputana Premier League (RPL), being broadcast live on Neo Sports.
Those arrested include umpires and some players. A cash amount of Rs 38.47 lakh was recovered from the gang. RPL had been organized for the very purpose of making money through spot fixing and match fixing, senior police officials said. The same gang was scheduled to organize a cricket league in Dubai in the near future. They were involved in fixing matches in other cricket tournaments also, the officials said.
RPL was being organized at KL Saini Stadium in Jaipur.
Police commissioner Sanjay Agarawal said that they received a complaint from BCCI’s anti-corruption and security unit about match fixing and betting in Rajputana Premium League being played between July 11 and July 21.
“A total of six teams were participating in the league. The BCCI complaint was specific. It said that two men – Wazir Khan and Bahare Khan – were in Jaipur and they were conniving with the league’s players, organizers and umpires to fix matches. They were paying them for spot fixing,” police commissioner Agarwal said.
The matches were being broadcast live on Neo Sports channel, he said.
“It was quite evident that by fixing these matches, the organizers were fooling the emotions of lakhs of people. We took the complaint very seriously and launched an investigation,” said the commissioner who himself surprised the probe.
The Jaipur city police crime branch carried out raids at four hotels in Jaipur and detained 60 people for interrogation on Wednesday.
Read also: Rajputana Premier League (RPL) fixing: matches cancelled, career of cricket players at stake
After preliminary investigation, 14 of them were arrested.
Those arrested were identified as
- Wahid Khan (Bhatinda in Punjab),
- Bahare Khan alias Dr Soni as Siddhu Sahi (32), a resident of Fatehgarh Sahi, Punjab.
- Dinesh Talwar alias Daksha (30), a resident of Haryana
- Rajesh Pareek (25), a resident of Haryana
- Pawan Kumar (28), a resident of Haryana
- Irfan Khan (21), a resident of Punjab
- Amandeep Kapoor, a resident of Punjab
- Gurmeet Singh alias Gurupreet Singh alias Major Singh (25), a resident of Punjab
- Amandeep alias Sonu (26), a resident of Punjab
- Jatin alias Hunney (32), a resident of Punjab
- Lovepreet alias Lali (36), a resident of Jodhpur
- Manoj Sachdeva, (27), a resident of Jodhpur
Police recovered a cash amount of Rs 38.47 lakh, 18 mobile phones, 2 walki-talkies and one laptop.
These people have been booked under section 420 and 120 B of IPC.
How cricket matches were being fixed
Police have found during preliminary investigation that RPL was being organized for the very purpose of making money from spot fixing and match fixing.
“A meeting of people belonging to Delhi and Gujrat was held on the intervening night of June 24-June 25. The meeting was attended by Wazir Khan and Bahare Khan. These people decided to organize RPL and make money through spot fixing and match fixing,” said the officer.
The officer said Wazir’s primary responsibility was to find players and umpires who could fix matches at the instructions of their bosses in Delhi.
“During the match, Wazir used to fix each ball and match. He would take instructions from his bosses in Delhi and forward the instructions to umpires who would then give decisions of ‘out’ or ‘not-out’. The umpire would also tell the players on the ground how they should play,” said the officer.
The bookies had to tie the match played on July 19 due to heavy losses.
There were reports that no selection committee was formed to select players and put together teams. Selection of teams was done in a hurry. The players didn’t have any information which team they would play for until two days prior to the start of the tournament. There was no practice schedule.
The league organizers were quoted as saying that all the players were from Rajasthan and they were already busy with other tournaments. So there was no time for practice.
The same gang had been involved in match fixing and spot fixing in Hyderabad Premium League, North India Premium League, Asian Premium League and many other cricket tournament played in Jaipur and other places, police officials said.
The same gang is scheduled to organize a cricket league in Dubai.
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Rajputana Premier League (RPL) fixing: matches cancelled, career of cricket players at stake