India and Rajasthan
Royals fast bowler Sreesanth has been handed a life ban by the BCCI
for his involvement in spot-fixing in IPL 2013. His Royals team-mate and Mumbai
spinner Ankeet Chavan was also banned for life, following
the board's disciplinary committee meeting in Delhi on Friday.
Amit Singh, the Gujarat cricketer-turned-bookie, got a five-year
ban, while Saurashtra and Royals seamer Siddharth Trivedi is suspended for a year for not
reporting an approach among other things. Twenty-one-year-old Harmeet Singh, who was part of India's
Under-19 World Cup winning team in 2012 and had a similar charge against him as
Trivedi, has been cleared of wrongdoing due to a lack of evidence against him.
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| Sreesanth |
There has been no ruling as yet on offspinner Ajit Chandila, the third Royals player
who was arrested in May, since he is yet to be questioned by Ravi Sawani, who
led the BCCI's probe into the matter. Save for a few days when Chandila was out
on bail due to a death in the family, he has been in police or judicial custody
since his arrest on May 16, meaning Sawani could not speak to him. However, he
was granted bail on September 9,
so his case should come up soon. Sreesanth and Chavan were out on bail since June 11.
Sreesanth tweeted soon after the news of his ban broke, saying
he found it "surprising". "Been tracking the news channels... Me
getting a life ban??!! Very surprising," he said. The tweet was deleted
soon after.
While Trivedi is banned from playing any BCCI-organised cricket,
the other three are banned from playing any such cricket or in any way being
associated with activities of the Indian board or its affiliates. The penalties
were decided upon by the disciplinary committee, comprising board president N Srinivasan
and vice-presidents, Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah. The ban means Trivedi will
have to be replaced in Royals' squad for the Champions League T20, which begins
on September 21.
The players, minus Chandila, were summoned by the board to
present their case in the disciplinary committee meeting in Delhi.
Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila were
arrested by Delhi Police on May
16 in Mumbai, for the alleged fulfilling of promises made to bookmakers, along
with eleven bookies including Amit Singh. Royals later suspended their players and the BCCI set up an inquiry into
the matter, headed by its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Sawani. Apart
from the action taken by the board, the players face possible prison sentences
should they be found guilty in a court of law. They were among 39 persons named
in the Delhi Police's chargesheet
on alleged corruption in the IPL in July, charged with criminal conspiracy,
cheating and dishonesty under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the
Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
cricinfo
