Indian police arrest three over IPL betting racket

NEW DELHI: Indian police have arrested three men suspected of illegal betting on lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, the cricket board said.

The trio were arrested Thursday at a hotel where the Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils teams were staying following their match in the northern city of Kanpur.

India’s cricket board said the arrests led police to “foil the alleged betting attempts of the accused.”

Nearly all gambling is illegal in India but it is a huge underground industry.

The money-spinning IPL, the world’s most popular domestic cricket league, has been plagued by controversies since its inception in 2008. Corruption and match fixing have often taken center-stage.

A spot-fixing scandal in 2013 led to the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals being suspended in 2015 for two seasons.

“The Anti-Corruption Unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been tracking activities of certain individuals, as a result of which three suspects were arrested in Kanpur on Thursday,” the board said in a statement.

“Following this operation, the Uttar Pradesh Police Crime Branch could successfully foil the alleged betting attempts of the accused.”

The 2013 scandal saw Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, a Rajasthan Royals bowler, being banned for life along with teammates Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila for involvement in the spot fixing and betting scandal.

They were arrested in 2013 along with scores of bookies as part of a probe into allegations that players had underperformed in return for cash from bookmakers.

Criminal charges were later dropped but the players were banned for breaching the BCCI’s code of conduct.