IPL spot fixing: Bail hearing adjourned to Monday

A court here Saturday deferred to July 17 the hearing on the bail pleas of suspended Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila and five others, arrested in connection with IPL spot fixing scam.

Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain adjourned the hearing after he was informed that the senior public prosecutor in the case was not present. The court asked the prosecutor to remain present on Monday, when the bail pleas will be heard.

Besides Chandila, other accused who moved bail pleas are bookies Ramesh Vyas, Ashwani Aggarwal, Deepak Kumar, Sunil Bhatia and ex-Ranji player Baburao Yadav.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police, meanwhile, also filed their reply on bail plea of Vyas, saying he should not be granted relief as he was in direct contact with the underworld and was running the syndicate on their behest in south India.

"Ramesh Vyas, whose arrest in this case had been effected on June 8, and who has been remanded to judicial custody, has disclosed the role played by Ashwani Aggarwal as link between fixers, bookies, hawala operators of India and the syndicate member who are operating from Dubai and Pakistan," it said in its the reply

Vyas was controlling the entire south India network and Ashwani was looking north India operations on behalf of mafia dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel, it further added.

The court Friday directed police to file reply on the bail application of Vyas, who moved the court seeking relief after being sent to judicial custody till June 18.

On Friday, police opposed the bail plea of Chandila and others, telling the court that Chandila was a key conspirator in the entire case.

Delhi Police May 16 arrested three Rajasthan Royals players - S. Sreesanth, Chandila and Ankeet Chavan on spot fixing charges. 25 others were subsequently arrested.

The other 21 accused including Sreesanth and Chavan have already been granted bail by the court.