Chandigarh/New Delhi: The Punjab police Monday arrested Ravinder Dandiwal, who is allegedly involved in the international tennis match-fixing scandal, from Mohali. Ravinder Dandiwal has been arrested for recently hosting fake Sri Lankan T20 league games near Chandigarh. He was subsequently produced in a local court which sent him to a five-day police remand.
On BCCI radar
Dandiwal is on the radar of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He is facing charges of hosting a cricket match of the ‘Uva T20 League’ June 29 which was aired in Sri Lanka through YouTube. A BCCI ACU team will now be reaching Mohali and sharing the details with the police, confirmed BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) head Ajit Singh.
Officials statement
“Yes, he (Dandiwal) has been arrested. We are sending a team there. The effort will be to gather whatever information we can. The information available with us will also be shared with the police,” Singh said Sunday. “Whatever is useful to the police, we are ready to hand it over,” he added
The cricket match was played at a cricket academy in Sawara village, some 15km from the state capital. It was played by small-time players largely of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The players were wearing face masks, pretending to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They were donning numbered jerseys.
“Ravinder Dandiwal is arrested and we have been probing his role in this racket,” Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal told the media. Earlier, the police had arrested Raju and Pankaj. They had booked the cricket ground of the ‘Strokers Cricket Association’ for Rs 33,000.
Modus operandi
The case of the fake cricket match came to the light on the complaint of Parminder Singh, a resident of Kharar town. Official sources said the police have sent a notice to YouTube for airing the match.
“All the players who were hired for the cricket match were small-time players. They were offered Rs 5,000 to Rs10,000 for playing the game. The role of some Ranji players in hosting the match is also under investigation,” a senior police official said. He said the players with dark tan skins were selected for the match so that they looked alike Sri Lankans.
“When the match was being aired, suddenly a camera captured some farmers working in a rice field. That raised a suspicion that the match is not being played in a stadium,” said a police official.
SLC denial
The Sri Lankan cricket board (SLC) had already denied their involvement in the tournament. “Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that neither SLC nor its affiliates have any knowledge or any involvement with a fantasy tournament,” it said.