IPL 2017 | BCCI's anti-corruption head denies approach made to players in Kanpur
BCCI’s anti-corruption head Neeraj Kumar said there was no evidence of IPL team players being approached in the case involving the arrest of three men in Kanpur with links to a betting scandal. However, Gujarat Lions players will be asked to clarify meeting some unknown people before the DD game.
Kumar, a former Delhi Police Commissioner, made the clarification following speculation that the trio arrested from the team hotel on Thursday had told the police that they had approached a few players.
Not only did the three men in question manage to book rooms in the team hotel, they also got their rooms shifted closer to the that of the players. Hotel Landmark is where teams stay during any major cricket match in Kanpur and it also has a history of illegal events.
It was here that former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin introduced bookie Mukesh Kumar Gupta, aka MK, to the late South African skipper Hansie Cronje, according to the CBI's corruption report in 2000.
The report said Gupta told investigators that he was introduced to Cronje during the third Test between India and South Africa in Kanpur in 1996. Hotel records show MK had stayed at Hotel Landmark where both the teams stayed during the Test match.
“The modus operandi has changed as bookies now operate through Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media sites to stay in touch with people concerned, but attempts at fixing game remain unchanged even today,” an unnamed local police official told the Hindustan Times.