In what could be a breakthrough in securing the chain of evidence in the spot-fixing case, the Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have seized Rs. 20 lakh from the house of one of Ajit Chandila’s relatives. The money was allegedly stacked in a cricket kit kept at the house of Ajit Chandila’s aunt in Palwal in Haryana.
“The cash and some other belongings of the cricketer have been recovered at his instance. We took him to his aunt’s house in Palwal and made the recoveries. The proceedings have been video-graphed and section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act would be invoked in connection with the recoveries,” said a senior Delhi Police officer.
The police also took voice samples of Chandila and two bookies, Manan and Jiju Janardhan, at the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory at Rohini in the outskirts of the Capital. The samples will be matched with the tapped phone conversations.
In a related development, the Rajasthan Royals team management formally lodged a police complaint against its players arrested this past week and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) assured the police of full co-operation in the investigation.
The Royals accused Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan of breach of contract and cheating people by indulging in spot-fixing, said the police officer. The team has suspended their contracts.
Meanwhile, two people who watched the Rajasthan Royals matches in Chandigarh and Mumbai have also approached the police with complaints of cheating.
“All the complaints would be added to the existing case and no separate FIRs would be registered,” the officer said.
As reported by The Hindu earlier, the police officer confirmed that the Railway squad cricketer identified as Baburao Yadav was being questioned in connection with his alleged links with the bookies. “Yadav figured in the tapped conversations. He will be arrested if found involved in fixing,” said the officer.
Earlier, the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, chief Ravi Sawani, who has been asked by the cricketing body to probe the allegations, met Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and other senior officers and offered help.
