New Delhi: The match-fixing scandal of 2000 is making headlines again after the Delhi Police extradited Sanjeev Chawla, the alleged mastermind of match-fixing case involving former South African captain late Hansie Cronje, back to India.
Chawla, a British national as per Delhi Police charge sheet, absconding hitherto in the match-fixing case, was linked with several international cricketers, including Indian players, sources in the crime branch of the Delhi Police revealed.
Dossier prepared on Sanjeev Chawla by Crime Branch reveals that several Indian cricketers were frequenting his bungalow, 4, Monk Ville Avenue, London and their phone numbers figured on Chawla's phone list in Call Data Records (CDRs) recovered by police for the period of January to March 2000.
ACP Ishwar Singh, the crime branch officer who was closely monitoring the case as the investigating officer, speaks to ETV Bharat about the unearthing of the scandal, the names which popped up and the subsequent impact it had on the gentleman's game.
Here are the excerpts from the interview
:
Reporter: How did the crime branch unearth the scandal?
Ishwar Singh: There was a crime branch database having details about the extortionist and kidnappers linked to the underworld. During that time, a member of the Dawood gang gave an extortion call to Delhi. We started working on the case soon after.
While we did an analysis of suspected mobile numbers. One of them was of Krishna Kumar (of T-Series music group) an associates of Sanjeev Chawla, who was directly linked with a phone number of Saheen Haithley, an alleged member of underworld operating from Dubai in early 2000.
Read: Delhi Police to take extradited bookie Sanjeev Chawla to India-SA match venues of 2000
Reporter: What type of conversations happened between the players and the fixer?
Ishwar Singh: While we were doing the analysis, we got to know that Sanjeev Chawla travelled to every venue of the India-South Africa series. Before a game scheduled to take place in Kochi, we intercepted a conversation between Kumar and Chawla which revealed that Sanjeev Chawla had a meeting fixed with a 'captain'. We suspected the involvement of players too.
Before the game in Delhi, South African captain Hansie Cronje met Sanjeev Chawla in his hotel room asking for a roaming sim card. Other recordings revealed that Cronje was talking about money transactions. Hamid kasim, an african national was the one who fixed the meeting between these two.
Read: Several ex-Indian cricketers could be in trouble as top bookie Chawla extradited from London
Reporter: Did they talk about how to fix the game? Were any other players involved?
Ishwar Singh: In one of the conversations before the Nagpur fixture, Sanjeev Chawla asks Cronje to not score more than 270 runs, or else the deal will be off. Cronje is also heard saying Gibbs, Williams and Strydom are with me and "all is well".
Chawla, a British national as per Delhi Police charge sheet, absconding hitherto in the match-fixing case, was linked with several international cricketers, including Indian players, sources in the crime branch of the Delhi Police revealed.
Reporter: Was Dawood Ibrahim involved in the scandal?
Ishwar Singh: The extortion call might have come from one of Dawood's men. We suspect it to have come from one of his associates.
Crime Branch has also gathered documents from Scotland Yard, whose sleuths arrested Chawla in 2001 in another betting scandal involving English players. On the basis of a statement of former England all-rounder Chris Lewis who alleged that Chawla had offered bribe to the then England Captain Alec Stewart to underperform in matches, the Scotland Yard questioned Chawla and a prominent Indian sports promoter.
