Match-fixing racket kingpin arrested

ACCUSED OF HOLDING FAKE SRI LANKAN T20 LEAGUE GAMES IN MOHALI; TWO BOOKIES WERE HELD EARLIER

MOHALI : The alleged kingpin of a betting racket, Ravinder Dandiwal, was arrested on Monday by Mohali police for suspected links to an international tennis matchfixing scandal and for hosting a fake Uva Sri Lankan T20 league games in Sawara village in this district from June 29 to July 5.

Two bookies were held three days ago for the cricket betting racket.

The trio, including Dandiwal, was produced in a local court that sent them to a five-day police remand.

Divulging details, Mohali senior superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh Chahal said Dandiwal, who was on the radar of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was facing charges of hosting a cricket match of the Uva T20 league on June 29 that was aired in Sri Lanka through YouTube.

BCCI UNIT ARRIVING

He said the anti-corruption unit of the BCCI would be arriving in the city on Tuesday to share details and interrogate Dandiwal. A news report had said earlier that Dandiwal was named as a suspect in a tennis fixing racket by the Victoria Police in Australia.

Chahal said the cricket match, comprising small-time players largely from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, was played at a cricket academy in Sawara village located about 15km from Chandigarh. The players were wearing face masks, presumably for Covid-19 protection, and numbered jerseys. It was being streamed live as a Uva T20 League match in Sri Lanka’s Badulla city, home of the Uva Province Cricket Association.

Chahal said after the arrests of bookies Rajesh Garg and Pankaj Arora, the police learnt that the grounds of Stoker Cricket Academy in Swara village had been booked from June 29 to July 5, 2020, for ₹33,000. Chahal said Dandiwal’s role in the racket was being investigated. Dandiwal and the two other bookies have been booked for cheating and criminal conspiracy besides under the Punjab Gambling Act at Kharar Sadar police station.