Bookie Sanjeev Chawla, who has been extradited to India after a nearly two-decade long court battle, has made startling revelations about match fixing in cricket. The kingpin of the match-fixing scandal during the South Africa’s 2000 tour of India, Chawla has reportedly told the investigators that “no cricket match is fair. All games are fixed”.
In his disclosure statement to the Delhi Police, the London-based “match-fixer” has reportedly claimed that “no cricket match is fairly played” and “…all the cricket matches which people see are fixed”.
Investigators in a charge sheet have claimed Chawla as stating that cricket matches are like “movies which are already being directed by someone”.
Chawla in a separate statement has reportedly also confessed that the other accused and his close friends Krishan Kumar, Rajesh Kalra, and Sunil Dara were also involved in fixing matches.
The high-profile bookie and the kingpin in the biggest match-fixing scandal in the history of cricket was extradited to India in February this year after nearly two decades of court battle in the United Kingdom. He is the main accused in the match fixing case that led to a life ban on Hansie Cronje and abruptly ended the career of former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin.
The scandal was exposed after the Delhi Police had recorded his conversation with the South African skipper to determine the outcome of the One Day International match at Faridabad’s Nahar Singh Stadium during the Proteas 2000 tour of India.
Chawla has also reportedly confessed about the involvement of “a very big syndicate/underworld mafia” that controls what happens in the cricket game, just like “movies which are already being directed by someone”.
He has reportedly confessed that case’s case’s investigation officer DCP (Crime Branch) Dr G Ram Gopal Naik has been targeted by the underworld mafia and his life is under threat. But he declined to reveal more about the mafia, fearing the people he worked for could eliminate him.
“A very big syndicate/underworld mafia is involved in this matter and they are dangerous people and if he says anything they will get him killed,” he has reportedly said.