IPL scandal: Sreesanth, 3 others sent to judicial custody

May 28, 2013
New Delhi, May 28: Arrested cricketers S Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila besides two bookies were today remanded in judicial custody till June 4 by a Delhi court which rejected the investigators' plea for two more days of custodial interrogation of the Indian pacer in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal case.

fixingChief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma turned down the plea of Special Cell of Delhi Police for the custody of Sreesanth saying he cannot be held liable for what has happened at his back.

"Admittedly, Sreesanth cannot be held liable for instances at his back. I am of the considered opinion that it would amount to injustice to the accused," the court said on the police argument that immediately after his arrest, his hotel room was cleaned up and some articles were removed.

The court also pulled up the investigators for not showing any fresh ground to take the custody of Sreesanth, saying as to why he should be handed to "your hospitality" for two days.

"How will you (investigators) establish that the removed articles belong to Sreesanth as anyone can plant to falsely implicate him," the court said. It also sent Chandila and two bookies Ashwani Aggarwal and Chandresh Patel to judicial custody after the police said they were no more required for custodial interrogation.

The court dismissed the bail plea of Rajasthan Royals player Ankeet Chavan, while the bail of Sreesanth will be heard on June 4.

During the course of arguments, Senior Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan informed the court that interception of various calls suggested that several big names may be involved in the episode as calls were made to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The police said there are some missing links and they are working on it.

"We are missing the link of the whole episode which will be proved very soon," the prosecutor said, adding, "Some big names are also involved which I cannot disclose at this stage and they were in regular contact with D company."

While seeking custody of Sreesanth, the prosecutor told the court that Abhishek Shukla has joined investigation and he allegedly had cleaned the cricketer's hotel room immediately after his arrest.

He also said that Sreesanth has to be confronted with Shukla who might have removed the electronic gadgets and data kept in the cricketer's room and at pacer's instance Rs 5 lakh have to be recovered as his friend Jiju Janardhan had taken Rs 10 lakh on his behalf.

The police told the court that the bills of the parties thrown by Sreesanth were paid by Abhishek Shukla as his (Shukla's) PAN card number was mentioned on the bills.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Sreesanth, opposed the plea for police custody saying it is completely unjustified after he being interrogated in its custody for 12 days. She said the grounds of police custody are "so completely untenable".

She also said the police theory that some articles were removed from Sreesanth's hotel room was also untenable as the room was unattended for three days and it was Mumbai Police which had later recovered a laptop from his room.

Meanwhile, the court directed the Tihar Jail authorities to produce accused Ashwini before a Mumbai court, which had issued production warrant against him. It also said that he should be brought back before June 4.

The court had earlier remanded other accused Babu Rao Yadav, a former Ranji player, cricketer Ankit Chavan and three more bookies - Jiju Janardhan, Deepak Kumar and Manan Bhat - in judicial custody till June 4.

Delhi Police has so far arrested 22 accused in connection with the spot fixing scandal case and except four bookies all others are in judicial custody.

Arrested bookie Bhupender Nagar, Sayed Durez Ahmed and Sunil Saxena are in police custody till May 30. Bookie Mohd Yahya is also in police custody.

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July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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January 28,2020

New Delhi, Jan 28: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is clear that while they have no problem with the Pakistan Cricket Board hosting the 2020 edition of the Asia Cup -- set to be a preparatory ground for the T20 World Cup in Australia -- the venue needs to be a neutral one as travelling to the neighbouring country isn't an option at present.

Speaking to news agency, a BCCI official said that the hosting rights is not an issue and it is just a case of picking a neutral venue as the Indian team wouldn't be travelling to Pakistan for the T20 tournament that will see the top Asian teams in action.

"The question isn't about the PCB hosting the tournament. It is about the venue and as things stand now, it is quite clear that we would need a neutral venue. There is no way that an Indian team can visit Pakistan to even participate in a multi-nation event like the Asia Cup. If the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is ok with an Asia Cup minus India then it is a different ball game. But if India is to participate in the Asia Cup, then the venue cannot be Pakistan," the official said.

In fact, issues in obtaining visa for Pakistan players to come and play the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup in India was one of the major reasons why the tournament was shifted out of the country with BCCI hosting the event in UAE.

The official said that the PCB can do just the same and host the event in a neutral venue. "A neutral venue is always an option. BCCI did it in 2018," the official pointed.

Cricket returned to Pakistan after a decade when Sri Lanka toured the nation in 2019. While Sri Lanka was the first nation to play a full series in the country, Bangladesh is currently in the country as they just finished playing three T20Is. They will play a Test from February 7 to 11 and then play a one-off ODI before playing the second Test from April 5 to 9.

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January 23,2020

Dhaka, Jan 23: Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who is part of the Bangladesh squad traveling to Pakistan, posted a cryptic tweet before team's departure which raised a few eyebrows.

On Wednesday evening, Rahman took to Twitter to post a selfie along with his teammates before the team's departure and asked his followers to pray for them, writing: "Heading to Pakistan. Remember us in your prayers."

Bangladesh were earlier reluctant to travel to Pakistan. However, the officials of both the teams met in Dubai and it was after many deliberations, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) agreed to send their team for a cricket series.

Bangladesh will be playing three T20Is, two Tests and an ODI in Pakistan between January and April. The T20I series will be played from January 24-27 in Lahore, followed by the first Test from February 7 to 11.

Bangladesh will then return to Pakistan in April for the one-off ODI which will be played on April 3 and the second Test from April 5-9.

Senior players like Mushfiqur Rahim decided against traveling to Pakistan citing personal reasons. After that, five members of the Bangladesh coaching staff also pulled out of the tour.

Pakistan have also recalled the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, along with pacer Shaheen Afridi for the T20I series.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Kumer Das, MD Mithun, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.

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