Mumbai Test and Cochin ODI in 2000 were fixed, reveals Delhi Police

Mumbai Test and Cochin ODI in 2000 were fixed, reveals Delhi Police

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The match-fixing scandal broke out in 2000

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Delhi Police has filed a new charge sheet regarding the 2000 match-fixing case against Sanjeev Chawla and stated that Mumbai Test and Cochin ODI of the 2000 Ind-SA series were fixed. Delhi Police has revealed that accused persons have committed offences punishable under sections 420 and 120B of IPC.

The 2000 match-fixing scandal involving then South African captain and the country’s unquestionable cult hero Hansie Cronje was one of the darkest chapters in the history of the sport, with Delhi police arresting two Indian bookies Sanjeev Chawla and Rajesh Kalra. When Cronje revealed the truth of it in front of Ali Bacher, things took a different turn and Chawla was arrested. 

Chawla, who is currently a British citizen, was extradited to India after a rather lengthy process this year in February and now the Delhi police found the exact happenings of that controversial series, saying two matches were outrightly fixed in their latest charge-sheet, reported Indian Express.

“…on the basis of statements of the witnesses recorded during the investigation, conversation recorded between the accused in the seized audio and video cassettes, CFSL report and other documentary and oral evidence, it can be safely concluded that some of the matches were fixed and in some, an attempt was made to fix them…” the charge sheet read.

“In furtherance of this conspiracy, the 1st Test Match at Mumbai and 1st One-Day International at Cochin were fixed and the same resulted in wrongful gain to the accused and wrongful loss in general to the public at large, who had gone believing that they would perform optimally. The accused persons have thus committed offences punishable under sections 420 and 120B of IPC,” the report read.

Delhi Police has also shared a list of 68 witnesses, which includes former BCCI secretary Jayawant Lele, who held the post when the scandal broke out in 2000 and passed away in 2013. His son Ajit Lele is active in cricket administration and now the president of Baroda Cricket Association. The report also detailed the proceeding of those two matches and revealed that in the Mumbai Test, it was planned by the bookies and Cronje that the visitors wouldn’t score more than 300.  

“It was decided that the South African team will not score more than 250 runs in an innings. Though the South African team won the Test in three days, this was attributed to a very poor performance by India. The Indian team had batted first and scored 225 and the South African team scored only 176. In the 2nd innings, India scored a mere 113 and the South African team won the match by scoring 164 runs only. Thus, the South African team did not score more than 250 runs in both the innings, as committed by accused Hansie Cronje to the fixers. Thus, this match was a fixed one.”

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