NEW DELHI: Indian cricketer and Rajasthan Royals player S. Sreesanth on Friday confessed to spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the police said.

"Sreesanth has confessed to spot-fixing. He was teary eyed during interrogation," a Delhi Police official said.

Rajasthan Royals cricketer Ankeet Chavan was the first to accept his role in spot-fixing during questioned by Delhi Police while the third player, Ajit Chandila, has not yet accepted the charges.

The three were sent to five-day police custody on Thursday after being brought to Delhi from Mumbai, where they were arrested. The trio was questioned on Friday by officials of Delhi Police special cell.

Besides the three cricketers, the Delhi Police has also arrested 11 bookies for alleged spot-fixing.

Earlier, Ankeet Chavan too reportedly confessed to spot-fixing in IPL matches.

Even as the families and lawyers of the three arrested Rajasthan Royals players on Friday maintained they were innocent.

According to police, the three accused, have been kept at the Lodhi Colony special cell of the Delhi Police.

The first to break down was Chavan, a senior police official said.

"He broke down when we questioned him. He accepted that he made a mistake. He also accepted his role in the spot-fixing," he added. The three IPL players were on Thursday remanded to five days' police custody after their arrest in Mumbai late the previous day.

But, the official said Chavan's other two teammates — Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila — have, however, not yet accepted the charges.

Chavan's family and lawyers claimed the cricketer was innocent.

"It is said that small fish are easier to catch, that is what has happened here too," Chavan's brother said.

"He is innocent, we know that. He has struggled a lot," he told reporters.

Deepak Prakash, Sreesanth's lawyer, said, "Sreesanth has been falsely or mistakenly arrested. They (Delhi Police) have got some wrong information or mistakenly arrested him."

Asked about Chavan's confession, he said, "They (players) have to confess before the court. Police can say anything, it has no value at all.

"Anyway, Sreesanth has not confessed. Though his name has been involved, there is no issue with Sreesanth. He will fight it out," Prakash told reporters outside the special cell office.

The third cricketer's lawyer Rakesh Kumar, however, accused the Delhi Police of framing the cricketer.

"He is innocent, there is no evidence against him. It is a cooked-up story by police. It is a scandal," Kumar said.

"The Delhi Police is deliberately raking the controversy to divert media attention from other issues. Unlawful and illegal procedures were adopted to tape his conversations," he said.

The Delhi Police said more teams have been sent to other states to conduct raids.

Besides the three cricketers, Delhi Police also arrested 11 bookies for alleged spot-fixing.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, meanwhile, congratulated Delhi Police for the investigation.

"I congratulate the Delhi Police. Whenever they do good work, I appreciate them," he said on the sidelines of a function here.

Asked about the underworld link in the betting racket, he said: "Police is investigating, it is a preliminary comment."

Police said Pakistani links and the involvement of the Mumbai underworld have surfaced in the investigations. — IANS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police is investigating whether spot-fixing took place in matches involving Rajasthan Royals in the IPL other than the three matches in which three of its players were allegedly involved.

Police sources on Friday said so far concrete evidence has emerged only in three matches on May five, nine and 15 and three players — Sreeshant, Ajit Chandela and Ankit Chavan — were arrested, besides 11 bookies.

It has also come to light that Amit Singh, one of the bookies arrested, had played for Rajasthan Royals in the previous IPL season.

A senior police official said telephone conversations have indications about spot-fixing in other matches but the investigators have not been able to concretely prove that as of now.

“We are collecting evidence,” the official said, adding role of other players have not come to light. He said, however, the police are not ruling out any possibility as of now as investigations are still on.

The sources said the players were embarrassed and were not opening up initially while bookies were talking.

Sreesanth and two other bowlers were arrested in a post-midnight operation in Mumbai yesterday by the Delhi Police for spot-fixing IPL matches for payments of upto Rs 60 lakhs just for giving away pre-determined number of runs in an over.

The arrested cricketers and the bookies were remanded in police custody for five days by a Delhi court on Thursday for questioning in connection with the case.

Advocate Deepak Prakash, who had appeared for Sreesanth, had told reporters that the cricketer was innocent and that he had been framed in the case. — PTI

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Police on Friday conducted searches in various locations in the city in connection with betting and fixing relating to IPL matches, a day after Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royals players for alleged spot-fixing.

Crime-Branch CID sources said raids were on in city but declined to divulge details, including the locations.

They indicated that searches were being held in connection with charges of fixing besides crack down on betting.

Speedster S.Sreesanth and two other bowlers from Rajasthan Royals team Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by Delhi Police on charges of spot-fixing IPL matches for payments of upto Rs 60 lakhs just for giving away pre-determined number of runs in an over.

The players, who have been suspended by the BCCI, have been charged under section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

They are also likely to be booked under the stringent MCOCA, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, which could land them in jail without bail and their confessions before a DCP level officer will be admissible in court. — PTI

MUMBAI: Lodged in an egg-shaped high-security 'anda' cell, actor Sanjay Dutt is feeling "suffocated" in its confines, which are generally used to house terror suspects and hardcore criminals, and pleaded a TADA court on Friday to shift him to another cell as he is not a terrorist.

Rizwan Merchant, counsel for Dutt, made an oral plea before the court in Mumbai to shift the filmstar from 'anda' cell in Arthur Road Central Prison to some other cell, saying "the actor felt suffocated in this chamber due to insufficient ventilation."

He said generally terrorists or hardcore criminals are kept in 'Anda' cell to segregate them from other prisoners for security reasons.

Dutt has not been convicted under TADA and was not a terrorist. He was convicted under Arms Act and as such he should not be lodged in the egg-shaped cell, Rizwan pleaded.

The lawyer maintained maintained that the cell has insufficient ventilation and does not get proper light.

Designated Judge G.A. Sanap asked him to move a written application in this regard so that he would pass an order after hearing the prosecution. Merchant said he would file an application later.

The 53-year-old actor was taken to the jail in central Mumbai on Thursday night after he surrendered before TADA Court in keeping with the Supreme Court deadline to complete his remaining 42-month sentence in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case. He has already spent 18 months in jail.

The SC, in March 2013, reduced Dutt's sentence to five years from the six-year jail term awarded to him by TADA Court in 2006 for illegal possession of arms. — PTI

LONDON: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said the Group of Ministers(GoM) headed by him will work towards giving CBI “functional autonomy” but at the same time asserted that accountability is “important“.

Chidambaram’s comments yesterday came three days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the constitution of the high-powered Group of Ministers(GoM) to finalise a plan of action to secure the autonomy of the CBI.

“We will give CBI functional autonomy and we will assure CBI will have a large degree of functional autonomy in matter of investigation,” said Chidambaram, who donned a hard hat and an orange colour construction worker suit, after he visited a construction site of the new Crossrail project in east London along with his British counterpart George Osborne.

The Finance Minister, who is on an official visit to the UK on the first leg of this three-nation tour to woo foreign investors, also addressed the issue of accountability.

“But all over the world — all bodies are accountable to somebody--they are accountable to executive, they are accountable to the legislature, they are accountable to the courts. I think what we have to ensure is that no one interferes with the investigations of the CBI,” he told NDTV.

“I think what we have to do is to ensure that no one interferes with the investigation by the CBI that’s what we have to ensure and I am confident my group will assure that.”

With the Supreme Court setting a July 10 deadline for the Centre to come out with a law to insulate CBI from external influence, the Government on Tuesday constituted a five-member GoM to draft a new legislation for the agency “within three weeks“.

It also asked the ministerial body to prepare the draft affidavit to be filed in the apex court in this context within the same period.

The GoM was constituted against the backdrop of the stinging criticism of the CBI by the Supreme Court that the investigating agency is a “caged parrot” of its political masters.

Chidambaram also spoke on the issue of corruption, saying it is not only India’s story; in every country corruption allegations are common.

“One minister resigned not because of corruption but because of an allegation that he interfered with an investigation. The other minister resigned on moral grounds, there is no charge against him yet, no evidence against him yet,” he said while speaking about the resignations of Railways Minister Pawan Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.

When asked about next year’s general elections and his reluctance to put himself forward as a prime ministerial candidate, Chidambaram said, “I am quite happy if you call it lack of ambition. So let’s say lack of ambition.” — PTI