Two people were arrested with fake accreditations; on a different day, one man came in the garb of a cleaner
Potential corruptors were spotted at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on different days of the IPL 2021 season, including all over the May 2 match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala told PTI. Two people with fake IPL accreditations were arrested by the Delhi Police on the day of that Royals-Sunrisers match.
In another incident – on a different match day, at the same venue – one man “in the garb of a cleaner” fled after ACU officials had caught him having a telephone conversation. He’s currently being traced by Delhi police after the ACU managed to recovered two mobile phones from him.
It used to be suspected that he could have been engaging in ‘pitch-siding’, which is the act of relaying information from the ground to a remote location to defeat the delay in the TV feed. It may be used to receive an virtue while betting on passages in play before the live computerised odds shift.
“One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the main points to Delhi Police. While that specific offender managed to flee leaving in the back of his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police,” Hussein told PTI on Wednesday.
“We are thankful to Delhi Police that in a separate incident they caught two other persons from the Kotla on ACU tip-off.
“So on two separate days, these people managed to receive access to Kotla. The person who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. On the other hand, we have all his details as he used to be employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police,” Hussein said. “I am self-assured that he’s going to be nabbed in a day or two. He’s a small fry working for a few hundred or some thousand bucks could also be.”
The man who fled came under suspicion when he used to be spotted on the phone, by himself, in a secluded area.
“He used to be standing (within Feroz Shah Kotla premises) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him: ‘What are you doing here?’ He said: “Main apne girlfriend se baat kar raha hoon” [I am talking to my girlfriend].
“My officer then asked him to dial the number he used to be talking to and then asked him to hand over the phones. Just when he used to be going through the contents of his phone, the guy fled from the spot,” Hussein said, without divulging which match-day this incident took place on.
“It used to be one of the most evening matches in Delhi. He used to be wearing an ID card. Also what raised suspicion used to be he had two mobiles,” he said.
“The information he could also be supplying could be to someone more influential among bookmakers, and so we needed to notify the Delhi Police. Delhi Police has responded positively and thus next instance two people were arrested.”
Hussain also confirmed that the ACU didn’t receive any complaint of corrupt approaches being made to players or strengthen staff involved in IPL all over the 29 games that were held before the tournament used to be postponed.
“Obviously with bio-bubble and no crowd around, it certainly becomes a bit easier to administer as there is not any physical proximity of questionable characters. When there’s a crowd, it becomes difficult to check anyone and everyone,” Hussein said.
He also said that all over the Mumbai leg, the hotel in which the Sunrisers team used to be staying had three people with questionable records, and whose names were in the ACU database. On the other hand, they couldn’t come in contact with any of the players.
“The moment we had information, we got in touch with Mumbai Police. The Police Commissioner of Mumbai took instant cognisance and the Mumbai Police got hold of those three,” he added.