Court to hear 2000 match fixing case on May 20

A court here today fixed May 20 for hearing the 2000 match-fixing scandal case involving former South African captain Hansie Cronje and five others and asked the Delhi Police to provide copy of the charge sheet and all the documents annexed with it to the accused.
The matter came up for hearing before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal and the court posted it for May 20 for scrutiny of documents.
Earlier, the police had supplied the charge sheet to Delhi-based bookies Rajesh Kalra and Sunil Dara alias Bittu, who are presently out on bail in connection with the case and had appeared in the court complying with its summons.

The court had on July 23 last year taken cognizance of the charge sheet filed by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police against six persons, including former South African captain Hansie Cronje, in which it had said he was paid Rs 1.2 crore in two instalments for fixing matches nearly 14 years back.
The names of Cronje's compatriot cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje were left out from the charge sheet.
The police, in its 93-page charge sheet, has named Cronje, Kalra, Dara, Kishan Kumar, brother of slain T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar as accused.

Besides them, London-based bookie Sanjeev Chawla and Manmohan Khattar are also named as accused in the case and police has chargesheeted them for offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

The court has abated the proceedings against Cronje, who was indicted by the Kings Commission of Inquiry in South Africa, in view of his death in a plane crash in 2002.
Earlier, police had told the court that the two other accused, Chawla and Khattar, are residents of UK and USA respectively and are hiding there.
The investigating officer had said that open non-bailable warrants have already been issued against them.