IPL Spot Fixing Scandal

[Stapel]

I just read on cricinfo Sreesanth claims he is innocent. Do we have any (public) evidence on him, either way? I find the cricinfo commentary lines not evidence anyway...., and if they were, hardly evidence in any direction whatsoever....

 

[Cruxdude]

Tehelka recently released a documentary on the fixing scandal of 2000s. Pretty informative.

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 1 - YouTube

 

[scorpio1990]

It seems Dilli is the capital of cricket bookies per Pioneer op-ed.

Bowled by bookies

Bowled by Bookies

If one were to do a total recall, all match fixing and spot fixing scandals that have hit international cricket being played anywhere in the world since the infamous Hansie Cronje case of 2000, have led the trail to Delhi. PRAMOD KUMAR SINGH tells you that Dawood may be the kingpin of the Rs40,000 crore betting racket, but Delhi remains his most lucrative hunting ground, what with the Capital having the dubious distinction of being the bookie node of the globe, Bhavnagar notwithstanding

Be it a hotelier, a famous restaurant chain owner, a real estate dabbler, a property dealer or, for that matter, an Old Delhi businessman, there is a bookie in them somewhere.

Be it about rubbing the cherry on the trouser, tying or untying shoelaces, kissing the pendant, stretching on the field or even looking heavenwards during a match, there is a fixer in some player somewhere.

Be it a low-rung law enforcer, an STD booth owner, an Intelligence agent or an officer of high rank, there is a mole in them somewhere.

With such a scary and well-oiled network at hand, no wonder the illegal betting racket boasts of a Rs40,000 crore turnover every season. Not that the Delhi Police has not been on the trail of these notorious men and women but often, for lack of clinching evidence, or negligence, the culprits corrupting the religion of cricket go scot-free.

Until now, when allegedly spurred by the mysterious killing of their super tracker inspector Badrish Dutt, who died on the morning of the day he was to conduct the biggest raid of his career on bookies, the Delhi Police went on a hot hunt to turn in the bookies who could be behind Dutt’s unexplained death.

Those in the Special Branch who are sitting on a mine of information on the bookies racket, controlled all the way from Karachi by none other than Dawood Ibrahim, tell you that it is a mindboggling, well-entrenched and well-organised syndicate of bookies who hold the national Capital to ransom.

These bookies function with impunity and have a shadowy existence. They work in conjunction with two big Mumbai-based players Raju Patakha and Jeetu Mumbai. There is another Delhi-based bookie from Jangpura in South-east Delhi, Saneejv Chawla, who escaped to London after the betting scam involving former South African captain Hansie Cronje who was caught on tape by Delhi Police, negotiating a deal with bookies to throw away a match.

Chawla, who fled to London in 2000, continues to reside in one of the most opulent areas of UK’s capital — the Oxford Street. Even after 13 years of him being identified, he runs a happening betting racket and is considered the ‘God’ of Delhi bookies. He controls the Delhi syndicate with an iron hand from London. And, despite the Interpol having issued a Red Corner Notice against him on the request of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) way back in the year 2000, the London Metropolitan Police has done little to arrest him. He continues to enjoy British hospitality and indulge heavily in spot fixing.

Chawla’s place in Delhi has been taken over by Tinku Mandi who controls the trans-Yamuna operations and Guddu Mandi, the kingpin of Laxmi Nagar, East district.

Quite startlingly,Delhi’s trans-Yamuna area has emerged as the epicentre of this infamous network and you may be surprised to know that these criminals are actually respected and well-heeled businessmen whose official operations are in the hospitality industry, real estate and the restaurant business.

Montu of Shahdara is one such big player. He controls a well-oiled syndicate that has moles in various wings of Delhi Police. Tinku and Guddu hold the trans-Yamuna territory, and, according to sources in Delhi Police, book an entry value of over Rs100 crore per match. The Tinku-Guddu duo holds 200 bookies under them.

There is another big player called ‘ND’ of Tank Road who operates from the Prasad Nagar area. ND is touted to be in the top league of bookies and controls over 150 bookies who report to him directly. This conglomerate not only places the bets on his behalf but also takes bets from him.

Then there are Bawa of Rajauri Garden, Bobby of Jail Road and Shyam — the triumvirate of what is now popularly being called the Delhi Bookies Premier League. In the second rung, lie Sanjeev Pandit, Chhotu Dilli and Kapil of Mukherjee Nagar, Sanjay Maharaj of Shalimar Bagh, Twinkle of West Delhi and Babbal of Dev Nagar.

Bunty, don of the south Delhi syndicate, was arrested by the Special Cell in the latest spot fixing scandal involving three Rajasthan Royal players. Chhotu Bansal of Rani Bagh, too, is fast emerging as a major player in Delhi’s underbelly. Special Cell officials, on trail of these bookies, say that the Delhi network is spread all over NCR and is controlled by masters in Mumbai, the Middle East and, of course, Pakistan from where Dawood Ibrahim is known to personally open the bids for the day at amounts running into thousands of crore of rupees — per match!

“Whenever the IPL season starts, or there are any foreign teams visiting India, we mount surveillance on known bookies and their associates. Owing to the latest crackdown, most of these bookies have fled and are said to be hiding in remote hill stations. A few who have stayed put have stopped operating from their premises but are trying to continue their nefarious business in moving cars. They are doing this to avoid being tracked,” Crime Branch Additional Commissioner Ravindra Yadav tells you. He adds that, often when the hunt hots up, bookies shift to half-constructed buildings in remote areas to carry on operations.

The bookies evolve a unique modus operandi to work for a particular cricket season. First, they scout for a safe house, preferably an under-construction building, where computers can be installed. Girls with fluency in English and regional languages are hired on a daily wage basis. These girls are paid between Rs1,000 and Rs1,500 with food and beverages. Their task is to take the bets manually and then enter them into the computers. “In the last three years or so, Delhi bookies have shifted their bases to neighbouring Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Noida. A majority of the big players has safe houses where they can hide in case of a raid,” Yadav says.

The trust deficit is such and the dangers so high in this Rs40,000 crore illegal business that bookies not just actively nurture moles in enforcement agencies to be mainly used for tip-offs but also maintain a round-the-clock surveillance over the activities of their own men.

Recent investigations reveal that Chandresh Shah, alias Jupiter, a resident of Jaipur, has long been operating from Delhi. Jupiter controls Dawood gang’s activities in India. He was the man who was receiving bets from Dubai, Delhi and Jaipur. Delhi Police had put at least 12 telephone numbers of Jupiter under surveillance. Over a period of time, his conversations were heard and then analysed by a dedicated team of investigators. The most important intercept was recorded after Special Cell sleuths picked up a call made by Jupiter to Manoj Metro, a key member of Dawood Ibrahim’s betting syndicate.

Jupiter and Metro were heard taking names of three Indian players and two players from a foreign country. Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar refused to name the foreign players just as yet but investigators say they will certainly be out after investigations get over and there is clinching evidence against them.

As for the now-in-custody Jiju Janardhan, Sreesanth’s relative and a former cricketer himself, was operating from Dubai, Delhi and Jaipur. Sleuths had intercepted at least two dozen calls made by Janardhan to different operatives of the D-company. He had been negotiating with fixers in Kochi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Karachi and Dubai. It now emerges that Janardhan was the fulcrum of Dawood’s IPL 6 betting syndicate and cops suspect that Sreesanth was in close touch with other members of D-gang through Jiju.

Bunty and Tinku of Delhi, Kothari of Mumbai and Jupiter were functioning in unison and were in regular touch with other members of Dawood’s pan-India network. The police have umpteen conversations of Jiju on tape in which he has talked to Dawood’s men in Karachi directly.

The lion’s share of this racket is pocketed by Dawood who then routes a major chunk of this illegal money to the Pakistan Army, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Agency and hordes of terrorist groups in Pakistan. This worrying network has compelled Indian security agencies to probe the terror links of all bookies operating from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Bhavnagar in Gujarat, not to mention, Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Jaipur. The bookies have been found to be funnelling thousands of crores of rupees through hawala channels to D-company operatives living in safe houses in Gulf countries and Pakistan.

Delhi has long been the hub of bookies and all trails, whether national or international, have almost always led to these gang men. Three of the Capital’s biggest bookies appear in the CBI list of wanted men and these are Sanjeev Chawla, Mukesh Gupta and AK Saxena. The ‘Mehta siblings’ who own a famous restaurant in South Delhi, a North Delhi-based businessman and the owner of several petrol pumps, and a former president of the Karol Bagh Market Association have been dabbling in this illegal money minting on the side. Gupta, formerly a clerk with a nationalised bank, was close to former Indian Captain Mohammad Azharuddin.

Hansie Cronje, the disgraced and now dead former South African cricket captain, had confessed to have fixed matches for money and, way back in a 2000 confessional alongside a priest, had named Gupta as the main bookie introduced to him by Azharuddin. The other Delhi bookie Rajesh Kalra functioned in close co-ordination with Rattan Mehta and Chawla. Mehta escaped to Miami in the United States when he got identified in 2000 while Chawla fled to London. Both have never returned to Delhi ever since.

Mehta was then touted to be close to a former Pakistani captain who played and led Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, 2003.

HOW ODDS!

•According to the CBI’s final report on match fixing, the odds for a particular match are decided among bookies based on certain criteria such as the relative strength of the two teams, their previous record, the pitch and weather conditions, team composition, etc. For example, if team A and B are scheduled to play and where A is perceived to be relatively weaker than B, then the odds may be 60 paise on B and 150 paise on A.

•These odds are decided primarily by bookies based in Mumbai who transmit the figures telephonically to their counterparts in different parts of India and the world to open the bets. Punters place bets with bookies over telephone. For example, if a punter places a bet of Rs1 lakh on team B winning the match, he will get Rs60,000, if team B actually wins.

•On the other hand, if he places a bet on team A winning the match and if A wins, he gets Rs1.5 lakh. If he loses his bet in either instance, he pays Rs1 lakh to the bookie. The odds keep constantly changing during the course of the match and the punter can conclude and place fresh bets according to his judgement.

•Bookies generally manipulate the odds in such a manner that they seldom incur huge losses. It is generally the punter who risks losing the money. The fluctuating odds are transmitted to bookies throughout India on mobile phone, through pagers or through what is called the ‘dibba' system.

•A dibba is a phone with speaker facility. The person operating a dibba has a mini exchange in which there are 10 to 12 incoming and around 100 outgoing lines. An operator constantly receives the prevailing odds on the incoming lines from big bookies. These odds are, in turn, passed on continuously on to other bookies/punters through the outgoing lines, using speaker facility.

•The outgoing lines are kept on throughout a match. “Primarily, owners of STD booths act as conduits in this sort of communication network,” a police officer revealed. Delhi’s syndicate basically works as a cartel which primarily means that there are no two groups of bookies who fix odds at widely differing rates. This, to a degree, ensures that there is no cut-throat competition which harms the interests of bookies internally.

•In spite of this, if there are any differences regarding any particular match, they are sorted out mutually among themselves.

Bookies identified and named by CBI’s Report on Match Fixing that hit the Indian and South African Cricket

1) Mukesh Kumar Gupta aka MK, aka John, C-538, Defence Colony, Delhi

2) Anil Steel, 2/0 312, Luxmichand House, 1st Floor, Telung Road, Matunga, Bombay

3) Anand Saxena, 3562, Gali Thank Singh, Sita Ram Bazar, Delhi and D-84, Defence Colony, New Delhi

4) Shobhan Mehta, 1503 and 1504, Deepak Jyoti Building, Kala Choki, Mumbai -33.

5) Uttam Chand, 145, North Usman Road, First Floor, T Nagar, Chennai

6) Naveen Sachdeva aka Tinkoo, 41/7, Second Floor, Punjab Bagh (East), New Delhi

7) Deepak Rajouri, A-120, Vishal Enclave, Delhi - 27

Sanjeev Sacher, aka Babloo, 18/18-A, Moti Nagar, New Delhi

Punters

1) Ajay Gupta, 41 Rajpur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi

2) AmeeshGupta, 34/1 East Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi

3) Gyan Gupta, 34/1, East Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi

4) Ni**** Goyal, 8/3, Ram Kishore Road, Civil Lines, Delhi - 54

5) Sanjeev Kohli aka Tipu Kohli, D-14, South Extension, Part-II, New Delhi

6) Ratan Mehta, W-38, Panchsheel Enclave, 2nd Floor, New Delhi and A-13/8, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

7) PawanPuri, Puri Farm House, Mehrauli, Gurgaon Road, New Delhi

S anjay Anand, 1-33, Kirti Nagar, New Delhi - 15

9) Rajesh Kalra, S-252, Ist Floor, Greater Kailash Part, Part - II , New Delhi

The investigation into IPL had been undergoing since IPL2 there are rumors that Delhi Police Commissioner Niraj Kumar had firm evidence about the link between spower + kampony D + who cannot be named.remember Niraj Kumar was then in the CBI team investigating Azharudin jadeja cronje etc.then since December last dilli billies began raping as if Armageddon is today evening, amongst the hulla gulla.the ruling party to show how committed they were and to gain cheap brownie points decided to ask niraj KUUmar to take a loooooong leave, but niraj coomar used the evidence as his weapon and remained at his post will remain till his retirement, then there was this hotshot ACP Badrish who is allegedly was about to come into open with the data and claim all the glory, so he was most probably sucided(remember till date they have been unable to identify who shot who, there are no Gunpowder marks on both of the dead bodies since it is impossible to be without gunpowdermark if one shoot the gun it means a 3rd person shoot them,no?)

and now it was decided to end it all lest somemore coverup might be needed so Delhi bolis began flying and arresting lower order nuisance value flies, all glory goes to Bolis, people ackthoo flies while the real culprits .......do what ever they do.

As per Rakesh Maria - Joint Police Commissioner and current Head of famous Mumbai ATS, Fixing was started by SMG, continued by Dev and perfected by Azza... The Govt definitely buried the tapes that Maria mentions and left these guys...No wonder they are successfully minting in IPL/Politics

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 1 - YouTube

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 2 - YouTube

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 3 - YouTube

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 4 - YouTube

Fallen Heroes: The first sting on match fixing- Part 5 - YouTube

 

[scorpio1990]

IPL spot-fixing live: PIL wants govt takeover of BCCI, HC issues notice - Firstpost

11.19 am: Cops hint that umpires are part of the scam

While the Delhi Police has cleared many in the Indian Premier League of their involvement in the spot fixing scandal, the Mumbai Police has hinted that the involvement of an umpire cannot be ruled out just yet.

The Mumbai Police has hinted at the involvement of a Pakistani umpire in the IPL spot fixing racket. This umpire reportedly officiated in one of the matches in which the three Rajasthan Royals cricketers arrested by the Delhi Police indulged in spot fixing, the Times of India reported.

The police has said they were analysing the activities of the umpire but helpfully added, just in case you wondered who it was, that the umpire was recently in the centre of a controversy over allegations of ***ual assault by a model. In case you’re still wondering, the Mumbai Police is hinting at Asad Rauf.

1:00 pm: Sreesanth reveals names of other players, including foreign players indulging in spot-fixing

The Delhi police now claims that Sreesanth has named other players who are allegedly involved in the betting racket in which he has been arrested.

A Delhi Police official is quoted in a Hindustan Times article saying that they have enough evidence to close in on four cricketers, including a foreign player, from two other teams and they could be arrested this week.

“During his questioning, he has named other players attached to two other teams. Since their recorded conversations do not figure in our telephone intercepts, we will move in on them only after we have enough proof which is being gathered. Fresh arrests will be made soon,” the official said.

1:05 pm: Mumbai police to question Chennai Super Kings CEO M Gurunathan in betting case

And now the Mumbai police has said that they will question Gurunath Meiyappan (N Srinivasan's son-in-law) in connection with the betting racket in which actor Vindoo Dara Singh was arrested yesterday, CNN-IBN reports.

Gurunath was allegedly in constant touch with Vindoo and it is because of this constant contact that the police has decided to call him in for questioning.

1:45 pm: Now cops say that Vindoo only made personal calls to CSK franchise CEO Gurunath

Just as soon as the news broke that the police could question Chennai Super Kings CEO Gurunath Meiyappan, now reports state that Vindoo has claimed that he had made the calls to the team owner purely for personal reasons.

The actor has claimed that the calls made to Gurunath had little to do with the betting racket and they were “just friends”, reported the channel.

The police has reportedly said that they are verifying the actor’s statement.

However, if the police stand by their statement that the actor would call the Chennai team chief and then bookies it raises questions why they wouldn’t want to question Gurunath.

 

[sledger]

Apparently the bookies targeted Sreesanth as vulnerable after watching the slapgate incident. Pretty funny if that's true.

 

[smash84]

Apparently the bookies targeted Sreesanth as vulnerable after watching the slapgate incident. Pretty funny if that's true.

 

[Spikey]

Apparently the bookies targeted Sreesanth as vulnerable after watching the slapgate incident. Pretty funny if that's true.

dont get our hopes up bud

 

[Cevno]

Pak umpire's role under the scanner - The Times of India

 

[AaronK]

I told you guys already that a Pakistani has to be involved in this.. I mean cmon it is spot fixing and match fixing.. we have created this.. our heros have done this for years and years.. lol

I won't be surprised if azhar mahmood's name pop up somewhere..

 

[Jono]

:/

 

[Dissector]

The thing I never understsand about spot-fixing is what the attraction is for the gamblers. Generally it's interesting to gamble on a big result about which you have some emotional connection or some reasonable belief about the outcome. Betting on some minor event in a single over doesn't seem interesting at all and yet there have to be vast amounts of money for spot-fixing to make sense.

Anyway I started a thread some time back and I think the only long-term solution is to legalize gambling and regulate it. This is anyway a better policy in general and I think it will significantly reduce the chances of fixing since corporations are easier to monitor and have different incentives. Legalized gambling will mean the authorities will access to rich gambling data sets where unusual patterns will be easier to spot. It's no panacea but I think it will help bring the problem under control.

 

[Furball]

The thing I never understsand about spot-fixing is what the attraction is for the gamblers.

Not sure if serious...

 

[Cevno]

ESPNcricinfo ‏@ESPNcricinfo 6h

ICC withdraws umpire Asad Rauf from the Champions Trophy following media reports indicating that he is being investigated by Mumbai Police.

 

[BeeGee]

The thing I never understsand about spot-fixing is what the attraction is for the gamblers.

Um, maybe the attraction is to win money?

Ever been to Vegas? Ever seen the thousands of people sitting in front of slot machines hoping for three cherries to come up? It's pathetic.

I only go to Vegas for the scantily clad women who give me free drinks, and the tackiness.

 

[scorpio1990]

A T20 match both teams wanted to lose - Yahoo! Cricket India

Fixing is so rife in the domestic T20 league that players on opposing sides in one match were on different bookies' payrolls, a high-level police source said on Wednesday. This led to a situation that would have been funny if it hadn't been so scandalous: batsmen on each side had cut deals with bookies to lose the game.

The side batting first notched up a meagre total that it fully expected would ensure defeat. But the team batting second outdid their rivals by making even fewer runs, and duly lost. Result: embarrassment in one dressing room, and one set of flabbergasted bookies.

"The losses for the bookies in league with the team batting first were huge, running into crores," said the source.

The fall from grace of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan has been dramatic, but if some police suspicions are well-founded, the trio could swiftly become an ignominious footnote to a much bigger story.

The police source said the range, sweep and depth of fixing in the ongoing T20 league were "mind-boggling".

For a start, the cops have realised that the bookies who had lured the three players are relatively small fry in the betting world.

The "big bookies, whom we are trying to ensnare, have possibly some of the big names of world cricket on their payrolls," he said.

"Though at the moment the focus of investigation is on these three Rajasthan Royal players, we are getting enough leads that point at other players and teams."

Apart from those involved in the match which the rival teams competed to lose, Delhi Police are also pursuing leads on three players from one more team.

Among those under the scanner are foreign players, especially from a country whose players are known for their explosive batting exploits.

Worse could be in store. Though the T-20 league has quickly degenerated into a battlefield for fixers, the 50-over game and Test cricket, the highest form of the game, are not beyond their sphere of influence.

"We have enough leads to suggest that the Champions Trophy tournament, which is scheduled for next month in England, is being targeted by the bookies," the source said.

Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, a cricket fan, is said to be determined to get to the root of this problem before he retires in July.

 

[scorpio1990]

IPL spot-fixing live: Srinivasan to go if Meiyappan arrested, say sources - Firstpost

10.04 am: Vindoo was in touch with three CSK players

Three Chennai Super Kings players, one of them quite senior, were in touch with Vindoo Dara Singh during the ongoing T20 season, the actor, arrested in connection with the spot-fixing probe, has told investigators. “Yes, he has dropped some names, we are verifying the authenticity of his claims,” the joint commissioner of police (crime), Himanshu Roy told the Hindustan Times.

The police might question the players once they corroborate Vindoo’s claims, sources said.

9.15 am: Gurunath was betting heavily on IPL, say Mumbai police

CNN-IBN has quoted Mumbai police sources as saying that Chennai Super Kings CEO Gurunath Meiyappan was betting heavily on IPL matches since 2011, and had been placing bets between Rs 10 lakh to a crore on matches.

The Mumbai police had also reportedly said that Meiyappan had bet heavily on three CSK matches this season, and had also placed bets on other matches in the league.

Meiyappan has been issued a summons to present himself before the Mumbai crime division before 5pm on Friday. The summons came after a Mumbai police team went to Meiyappan’s Chennai residence to question him and were told that he was not at home.

Meiyappan is being probed for his close links with Vindoo Dara Singh who has been arrested in the IPL spot-fixing scam. Police have said that there were as many as 30 calls exchanged between the two in a few days.

 

[SJS]

Sunil Gavaskar to NDTV: "We need to remember that people are innocent till proven guilty. The T20 format is such that unorthodox things are tried. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don't. I don't think there has been anything in the IPL that has raised my eyebrows"

gavaskar with his rubbish input as usual.

Its no rubbish. Earning one's keep, as Gavaskar was doing, is very serious business.

 

[scorpio1990]

From Firstpost :

CSK may be terminated if Guru is arrested, says rulebook: CNN IBN reports that Chennai Super Kings faces termination if its CEO Gurunath Meiyappan is arrested by the Mumbai police. The rulebook states that a franchise faces termination if an owner acts in any way that has an adverse effect on IPL. The BCCI is consulting the rule book on that. The rule book also states that a franchise can be terminated if it fails to meet pre-defined criteria.

Immediately came the statement:

India Cements issues a statement clarifying that Gurunath Meiyappan is neither the owner, nor CEO/Team Principal of Chennai Super Kings. "Mr Gurunath is only one of the members (Honorary) of the Management Team of Chennai Super Kings. India Cements follows zero tolerance policy and if anyone is proved guilty, strict action will be taken immediately. India Cements assures full co-operation with BCCI and the Law Enforcement authorities," says the statement.

---------------------

Developments in the IPL spot-fixing scandal moved at a frantic pace on Friday, with sources telling CNN-IBN that BCCI chief N Srinivasan may step down if his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings CEO Gurunath Meiyappan is arrested.

Meiyappan has been summoned for questioning by the Mumbai Police after arrested Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh told the police that Meiyappan is involved in betting on IPL matches. The CSK Team Principal then asked police for time until Monday to appear for questioning; however, the police turned it down, sticking to the deadline of 5 pm on Friday for him to appear.

CNN-IBN has learned that Meiyappan will leave in a private flight from Madurai but won't be able to meet the 5 pm deadline, reaching Mumbai only by 7:30 pm. Sources add that Mumbai Police has strong evidence against Meiyappan, including audio CDs of his conversations with Vindoo and also CCTV footage of the meetings between the two.

Sources have also told CNN-IBN that if in the course of questioning Meiyappan it appears that there is some truth in Vindoo's claims and the police manage to establish complicity, the police may even go ahead and place Meiyappan under arrest.

Vindoo, sources said earlier, has revealed that Meiyappan started with bets of Rs. 10 lakh that went up to Rs. 1 crore per match. It has also been learned that Meiyappan has placed bets on three CSK matches this season and also placed bets on other games. Meiyappan's name surfaced while the police interrogated Vindoo, who had made several phone calls to him in the last few months.

 

[honestbharani]

The thing I never understsand about spot-fixing is what the attraction is for the gamblers. Generally it's interesting to gamble on a big result about which you have some emotional connection or some reasonable belief about the outcome. Betting on some minor event in a single over doesn't seem interesting at all and yet there have to be vast amounts of money for spot-fixing to make sense.

Anyway I started a thread some time back and I think the only long-term solution is to legalize gambling and regulate it. This is anyway a better policy in general and I think it will significantly reduce the chances of fixing since corporations are easier to monitor and have different incentives. Legalized gambling will mean the authorities will access to rich gambling data sets where unusual patterns will be easier to spot. It's no panacea but I think it will help bring the problem under control.

While I agree with the second part of your post, your initial question is not such a difficult one to find an answer for. In any business involving big
money, there is always a chance that people will try to get that money through immoral and often illegal means.. So even if betting were to be legalized in
India, there is nothing that is going to stop betting agencies (they are just an extension of the present day "bookies") from trying to contact players and
starting to "fix" their bets so that they get the most profit irrespective of what else happens. So it is easy enough to see why betting would lead into fixing..

 

[scorpio1990]

look like things should boil down from here on, Sharad Pawar apart from the revenge for his team arrest had to uphold H&D for the Maratha power, the insult for SRT resignation from ODIs, his nephew's insult in the irrigation project,no action in fact grave insult on the compensation for Pune warriors, appointment of Laxman in ICI most of all kick on stomach by arresting hawala people, but now all phoojai(thai for elders) have realised that it has gone too far, but Mumbai police and DP police have made this a fight to restore their own H&D, this could prove to be an undoing and we might have some more twists, man!! where is the popcorn?!? what???! the microwave is out!!!! damn! me is away for some popcorn, till then folks.

Meanwhile:

NCP wants N Srinivasan to quit immediately

The NCP has issued a statement condemning N Srinivasan’s insistence on staying on as the cricket board chief and demanded that he step down immediately

“If he has an iota of honesty he should step down immediately,” the party has said, reported CNN-IBN.

And just in case you’re wondering why the NCP is so outraged, remember that party chief Sharad Pawar was edged out by Srinivasan and might just have decided its payback time.

Sharad Pawar heads the regional heavyweight party NCP which heads the Maharashtra Gov.