NEW DELHI (Web Desk) – A Delhi court has acquitted cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan of charges in the IPL spot-fixing case, a local Pakistani TV channel reported.
The three cricketers were part of Rajasthan Royals franchise when the scandal broke back in May 2013.
The case which also involves the likes of Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Chhota Shakeel was meant to be heard on June 29th.
Earlier, the three accused cricketer got bail after lack of evidence under the provision of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The special cell of Delhi Police has named 42 accused in its charge sheet among which six are absconding.
The infamous IPL controversy broke out during the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League, during which Rajasthan Royals cricketers Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan were accused of tarnishing the image of the game.
The Delhi Police, on May 16, 2013, arrested the three cricketers along with Sreesanth’s friend and alleged booking Jiju Janardhan and 10 other bookies.
While framing charges against them, the police had referred to telephonic conversations among the accused to support their claims.
However, the defending lawyers had countered the police’s claims, saying that the probe had failed to identify any prima facie evidence. Speaking to ANI ahead of pronouncement of the order, former Rajasthan Royals cricketer Chandila said: “I had never seen such bad times before. I believe that my bad time is over, I am sure justice will prevail.”
Cricketers Amit Singh, Siddharth Trivedi and Harmeet Singh, all of whom were part of the Royals’ franchise that year were also those among the accused.
Read more: IPL Scandal: Two Indian cricket teams suspended for two years
While Amit and Trivedi were handed five and one year bans respectively, Harmeet was let off due to lack of evidence as per the report submitted by the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Ravi Sawani.
The Supreme Court-appointed panel headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha had recently suspended IPL franchises Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings for two years, along with the suspension of ICC chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra from any type of cricket matches for life after they were found guilty of betting in the Indian Premier Leagues.
Read more: Meiyappan, Kundra banned for life
Lodha was appointed head of the sentencing panel in January after the Supreme Court had found Royals’ co-owner Raj Kundra and CSK’s Meiyappan guilty of betting on the outcome of matches in 2013.
