IPL spot-fixing: Chandila, two others get bail

Pointing to some "missing links" in the probe, a Delhi court Monday granted bail to suspended Rajasthan Royals cricketer Ajit Chandila and two others booked in the IPL spot-fixing case.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma also granted bail to former Ranji Trophy cricket player Baburao Yadav and alleged bookie Deepak Kumar on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each with one surety each of the same amount.

Cricketers S. Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan, who were earlier granted bail, also appeared in court as directed by the judge.

Chandila was booked under the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The court, while granting bail to the three accused, said Chandila's connection with the alleged organised syndicate was too remote.

It also pulled up the Delhi Police for some missing links in the investigation and directed the police Commissioner to examine the matter within a month.

"There are some missing links in the case. I am sending the full file to the commissioner of police for letting the case to be examined," the court said.

The court also dismissed the bail pleas of five other accused, saying the provisions of the stringent law MCOCA were applicable on them.

The bail pleas of alleged bookies Jitender Kumar Jain, Ramesh Vyas, Ashwani Agarwal, Sunil Bhatia and Firoz Farid Ansari were dismissed.

The court kept as pending the bail plea of Chandra Prakash Jain alias Chandresh Jain, who allegedly accepting bet by the name of Jupiter. The court said that investigation against Jain was still going on and police were yet to file the charge sheet against him.

The court fixed Oct 7 for hearing the arguments on the plea of police seeking cancellation of bail granted earlier to Sreesanth, Chavan and 19 others who were arrested in connection with the case.

On May 16, Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royals players -- Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan -- on spot-fixing charges on the basis of phone conversations and footage of IPL matches in which they were caught giving predetermined signals to bookies.

Police filed the charge sheet against 39 people. Accused Chandresh Jain was arrested after the filing of the formal set of charges.

Police invoked provisions of the stringent MCOCA against 28 accused in the case, including the three Rajasthan Royals cricketers, alleging that they were acting under the command of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Chhota Shakeel.