On a hot summer's day in April 2008, millions watched their TV screens horrified at the sight of an aggressive, young Indian fast bowler, S Sreesanth, sobbing uncontrollably after allegedly being slapped by Harbhajan Singh.
Many others watched in contempt at such 'unmanly' behaviour. But for some bookies, it appears to have been a moment of inspiration.
The interrogation of the bookies arrested in the recent IPL spot-fixing scandal has revealed that Sreesanth was spotted as a "vulnerable target" after this incident, a source said. If the bookies are to be believed, they had initiated efforts to get Sreesanth on their rolls soon thereafter but it took them several months to fix the first meeting.
Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother and aide, Anees Ibrahim, allegedly passed on instructions to Sunil Ramchandani alias Sunil Dubai to get more dope on the fast bowler through his contacts in cricket teams and among celebrities.
Sreesanth apparently broke down quite often after the incident, especially at parties, and spoke about how he was "backstabbed" by Bhajji, a source said. He had recently tweeted about the same. These bits of information coupled with "rumours" that he was being treated differently from the rest in the dressing room and that players were supporting Bhajji, were then supplied to the bookies through moles in showbiz.
Once the bookies and Dubai were sure that Sreesanth could be approached, Ramesh Vyas, who has been arrested by the Mumbai Police, was tasked by Sunil Dubai to make the next move, the source said. Vyas contacted bookies, among them Jupiter alias Chandresh Jain and two others, one of whom, sources said, is named Bharat. These conversations were being intercepted by the Delhi police special cell and they reveal that as many as 30 calls regarding roping in of players were exchanged between Sunil Dubai and Jupiter.
These calls were first mistaken as "coded exchanges between terrorists" before the reality sank in. A team led by DCP Sanjeev Yadav then began to monitor the case and special CP S N Shrivastava formed a team which began to gather more information on the betting syndicate and players involved.
In the meantime, these three bookies along with Tikku Mandi alias Ashwani, who has been arrested by the Delhi Police, contacted former player Amit Singh -- also now arrested -- and asked him to help fix a meeting with Sreesanth. Singh was on good terms with Jiju Janardan, often called Sreesanth's "satellite" as he was spotted with him most of the time. Jiju then allegedly fixed a meeting.
These developments happened over months and Sreesanth apparently did not readily agree to get into fixing. However, bookies claimed they applied all the tricks of the trade including calls made from Dubai, after which they managed to get Jiju to convince Sreesanth to act on their instructions and underperform at times.
Meanwhile, bookies were trying to rope in several others also. Mandi from Delhi and Chandresh from Mumbai, acting on orders from Dubai, assigned their employees identified as Sunil Bhatia and Kiran Dole to rope in Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, who had also been sorted after much 'study'.
Dole and Bhatia roped in cricketers like Manish Gudewar and Baburao Yadav to arrange a meeting with Chandila. Chandila was an "easy" target who apparently agreed in just a few 'meetings', including the one held in Gurgaon. Police have not yet disclosed how Chavan was roped in.
Cops, however, are yet to verify these claims and are questioning Sreesanth and cross examining the other bookies to authenticate them
Many others watched in contempt at such 'unmanly' behaviour. But for some bookies, it appears to have been a moment of inspiration.
The interrogation of the bookies arrested in the recent IPL spot-fixing scandal has revealed that Sreesanth was spotted as a "vulnerable target" after this incident, a source said. If the bookies are to be believed, they had initiated efforts to get Sreesanth on their rolls soon thereafter but it took them several months to fix the first meeting.
Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother and aide, Anees Ibrahim, allegedly passed on instructions to Sunil Ramchandani alias Sunil Dubai to get more dope on the fast bowler through his contacts in cricket teams and among celebrities.
Sreesanth apparently broke down quite often after the incident, especially at parties, and spoke about how he was "backstabbed" by Bhajji, a source said. He had recently tweeted about the same. These bits of information coupled with "rumours" that he was being treated differently from the rest in the dressing room and that players were supporting Bhajji, were then supplied to the bookies through moles in showbiz.
Once the bookies and Dubai were sure that Sreesanth could be approached, Ramesh Vyas, who has been arrested by the Mumbai Police, was tasked by Sunil Dubai to make the next move, the source said. Vyas contacted bookies, among them Jupiter alias Chandresh Jain and two others, one of whom, sources said, is named Bharat. These conversations were being intercepted by the Delhi police special cell and they reveal that as many as 30 calls regarding roping in of players were exchanged between Sunil Dubai and Jupiter.
These calls were first mistaken as "coded exchanges between terrorists" before the reality sank in. A team led by DCP Sanjeev Yadav then began to monitor the case and special CP S N Shrivastava formed a team which began to gather more information on the betting syndicate and players involved.
In the meantime, these three bookies along with Tikku Mandi alias Ashwani, who has been arrested by the Delhi Police, contacted former player Amit Singh -- also now arrested -- and asked him to help fix a meeting with Sreesanth. Singh was on good terms with Jiju Janardan, often called Sreesanth's "satellite" as he was spotted with him most of the time. Jiju then allegedly fixed a meeting.
These developments happened over months and Sreesanth apparently did not readily agree to get into fixing. However, bookies claimed they applied all the tricks of the trade including calls made from Dubai, after which they managed to get Jiju to convince Sreesanth to act on their instructions and underperform at times.
Meanwhile, bookies were trying to rope in several others also. Mandi from Delhi and Chandresh from Mumbai, acting on orders from Dubai, assigned their employees identified as Sunil Bhatia and Kiran Dole to rope in Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, who had also been sorted after much 'study'.
Dole and Bhatia roped in cricketers like Manish Gudewar and Baburao Yadav to arrange a meeting with Chandila. Chandila was an "easy" target who apparently agreed in just a few 'meetings', including the one held in Gurgaon. Police have not yet disclosed how Chavan was roped in.
Cops, however, are yet to verify these claims and are questioning Sreesanth and cross examining the other bookies to authenticate them
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