Chandila tried to rope in two more players: Police

Cricketer Ajit Chandila had approached two more Indian Premier League (IPL) players to spot fix in IPL matches after bookies asked him to do so, police sources said Friday.

"During questioning, Chandila told police that he met bookies at Country Club in Manesar (adjoining Delhi) on April 6. In the meeting, the bookies asked him to rope in more players for spot-fixing. He gave two names and the bookies asked him to bring them to a party in Jaipur where the deal could be discussed," police sources told IANS.

However, the two cricketers refused to attend the party.

Then Chandila contacted Ankeet Chavan to be part of the deal. Chavan agreed.

According to sources, the bookies - Chandresh Patel, Manan and Amit Singh - had decided to spot-fix the IPL matches a month before they were to begin in April.

Former Rajasthan Royals cricketer-turned bookie Amit Singh was Friday suspended for spot-fixing by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

During the meeting with Chandila, the three bookies fixed the rate of Rs.20 lakh for an over.

"The money was delivered to Chandila's residence at Faridabad in Haryana. His wife even asked and inquired about the money delivered to their house. He however, told his wife to keep quiet," an officer told IANS.

His wife told reporters Thursday that it was a conspiracy against her husband.

Delhi Police arrested Rajasthan Royals players S. Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila from Mumbai for spot-fixing and 11 bookies. All of them have been remanded in police custody for five days.

All the three players confessed to the crime.

Sources said that Sreesanth was directly approached by cricketer-turned bookie Jiju Janardhanan. He is also a distant cousin of Sreesanth. Janardhanan had played for Kerala.

Police said bookie Patel, who was arrested from Mumbai's Andheri area, may be the main conspirator. He had been spot-fixing for many years.