‘At Kotla, bookies employed cleaner for pitch-siding’
NEW DELHI: The IPL witnessed potential corruptors plugging an accredited cleaner at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Ground for doing “pitch-siding”, BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit chief Shabbir Hussain Shekhadam Khandwawala revealed.
The new modus operandi was observed during one of the IPL games in New Delhi, where a designated cleaner used the time lag between the actual match action and live TV coverage to help ballby-ball betting, which is also known as court-siding or pitch-siding.
Pitch-siding is the practice of transmitting information from sporting events for the purpose of gambling, or directly placing bets. “One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the details to the Delhi Police. While the particular offender managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, the ACU lodged a complaint to the Delhi Police,” Hussain told PTI on Wednesday.
The Delhi Police arrested two people with fake accreditation cards during the match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 2. “On two separate days, these people managed to get access to Kotla. The one who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament,” said Hussain.
Hussain also confirmed that the ACU didn’t receive any complaint of corrupt approaches being made to players or support staff involved in the IPL during the 29 games that were held.