IPL spot-fixing: police opposes bail plea of bookie Jitender

Delhi Police today opposed in a court here the bail application of a bookie arrested in the IPL spot-fixing scandal case, saying he was involved in the syndicate and was acting at the behest of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
In its reply filed before Additional Sessions Judge Renu Bhatnagar, Delhi Police Special Cell said bookie Jitender Kumar Jain was the chief financer for Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based syndicate involved in spot and session fixing in the IPL.
"Initially, three of his assistants were arrested in the case on May 16 from Mumbai. However, accused Jitender managed to evade police for over a month and remained in hiding and could be arrested after massive efforts on June 26.

"The associates namely Chandresh Patel, Manan Bhatt and Amit Singh (all three accused who got bail) were fixing cricket players, who were acting on his directions, and as per the finances being borne by him in inducing players Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and S Sreesanth, while he himself always remained in the background to control their activities," the police said in its application.
Besides Jitender, the police has also sought dismissal of the bail pleas of suspended Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila, bookies Ashwani Agarwal, Ramesh Vyas, Deepak Kumar, Sunil Bhatia and Firoz Farid Ansari and ex-Ranji player Baburao Yadav. Presently all the eight accused are in judicial custody till July 30.

Police also said that in the statement of Harmeet Singh, recorded by the court, clearly shows the involvement of Jitender in this syndicate.

The Delhi Police on May 16 had arrested three cricketers -- Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan of Rajasthan Royals -- on the charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust.
Police has also slapped provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan and 26 others in the case, alleging that they were acting under the command of Dawood and Chhota Shakeel.
In the same case, the court had on June 10 granted bail to Sreesanth, Chavan and 19 others on the ground of lack of evidence against them to be charged under MCOCA.