The ghosts of match-fixing have come back to haunt the Indian T20 League fans. The first time it happened was back in 2013 when some of the players and franchise officials were caught for spot-fixing and betting. The players and the officials were banned for life and the teams such as Rajasthan and Chennai were banned for two seasons in 2016 and 2017.
After the fixing fiasco, the board of Cricket in India ensured the clean conduct of the cash-rich league from 2014 to 2021. However, it seems as if the match-fixing has returned in the biggest T20 league. The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) has arrested three individuals on the allegation of match-fixing in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022.
The central agency has started its investigations across the country based on the inputs it has received. They are also probing Pakistani influence in this case. According to the First Information Report (FIR), accused Dileep Kumar, based in Rohini, Delhi, and Gurram Vasu and Gurram Satish from Hyderabad have been booked for the crime. Notably, the trio was in operation since 2013.
The accused opened their bank accounts by using forged documents and the documents were not verified by the bank officials. The report also suggests that the accused received money through hawala accounts.
“These bank accounts have been opened by submitting forged details such as multiple dates of birth and without due diligence done by the bank officialsâ€.
“A part of the money received from the general public in India on account of such betting activities is also being shared with their associates based in foreign countries using hawala transactions,†the FIR has alleged.
It is also to be noted that the action from the central agency was taken after they received an information that “a network of individuals involved in cricket betting are influencing the outcome of Indian T20 League matches based on inputs received from Pakistanâ€. It will be interesting to see whether the matches in the ongoing season were influenced or not.
