BCCI's ACU arrests 3 bookies for allegedly trying to fix matches from RR's Mumbai hotel

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was postponed by the IPL GC and the BCCI after players and staff members of different teams started testing positive for Covid-19 despite being in a bio-bubble environment. The IPL 2021 has been postponed indefinitely and the players and non-working personnel have started moving back to their respective home towns or countries. With the IPL 2021 postponed, different cases of bookies trying to influence the matches have started surfacing and a number of arrests have been made after the suspension of the league.

3 bookies arrested in Mumbai hotel of Rajasthan Royals

According to the latest IPL latest news, 3 bookies were recently arrested by the Mumbai Police from the Mumbai team hotel of Rajasthan Royals, which is St. Regis. The arrest was being made by the Mumbai Police after receiving information from the BCCI’s Anti Corruption Unit (ACU). The 3 bookies named Ayushi Kesarkar, Chetan Salecha and Parvesh Bafna were running a betting network from the same hotel where the Rajasthan Royals team 2021 was staying during its Mumbai leg. The police have confiscated INR 97,000, 8 mobile phones, 1 laptop and a vehicle from the bookies.

BCCI ACU chief, Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala said that the ACU officers had a tip-off that three people had checked into the hotel, where the Rajasthan Royals team 2021 was staying. The bookies made attempts to reach the players and support staff but couldn’t succeed due to strict bio-bubble regulations. The officers of ACU were alerted by these attempts and the ACU immediately informed the police commissioner of Mumbai to look into the matter.

After the information was provided, an officer from NM Joshi Marg Police station reached the hotel and arrested the 3 bookies. After the arrest, the police came to know that all the bookies were from Rajasthan and 2 out of the 3 bookies had previously made attempts to approach players in domestic and local tournaments. The ACU chief further added that the team staying in the hotel had no idea about this event.

He also said that since the players were inside the bubble, the security was tighter and they had officers deputed with each team. So, the players and the support staff were unaffected. Also, they have not received any complaints from any players about corrupt approaches so far.

IPL 2021 postponed by Sourav Ganguly

The decision to postpone the IPL came to light after SRH player Wriddhiman Saha tested positive along with Amit Mishra from Delhi Capitals. This caused the whole SRH team to go into quarantine. The Varun Chakravarthy Covid news came on Monday which caused a number of cases to come forward at the same time. In the IPL latest news, Sourav Ganguly, while commenting on IPL suspension, said that is it difficult to say how Covid entered the IPL bio-bubble.

Image Source: IPL Twitter