IPL fixing: bookie in 2-day PC, Chandila's bail deferred

The hearing on the bail pleas of Rajasthan Royal's Ajit Chandila and four others in the IPL spot-fixing scandal was today deferred by a Delhi court, which remanded bookie Sunil Bhatia to two-day police custody.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Khanna fixed the bail applications moved by Chandila, Ashwani Aggarwal, Baburao Yadav, Deepak Kumar and Bhatia for June 14, saying one of the accused (Bhatia) has been remanded to police custody for two days as new facts have emerge in the case.

The court directed that Bhatia be produced before it on June 14.

Earlier, the counsel for accused requested the court to take up the matter and grant relief to accused persons on the ground of "parity" with cricketers S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan of Rajasthan Royals and 18 others, who were given identical relief earlier.

The judge, however, said that it cannot hear the bail plea as one of the accused has been remanded in police custody on the request of the investigators, who have submitted that some new facts have come on record and sustained interrogation is required to unearth the deep rooted conspiracy.

The five have moved their bail applications after the court had granted bail to 20, besides the two cricketers observing that there is no reason for believing that the accused are guilty under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) at this stage and hence cannot be kept in jail.

The police has also sought custody for Ashwani Aggarwal, a major bookie of Delhi allegedly having links with D-company. As he was not brought from Mumbai, he could get six-day police remand.

The police said accused Ramesh Vyas, whose arrest in this case has been affected on June 8 and who is in police custody remand till June 18, has disclosed the role played by Ashwani as the link between the fixers, bookies and hawala operators in India and syndicate members who are operating from Dubai and Pakistan.