Sreesanth a fixer and Amit Singh the bad fish, says Sawani

The fate of Rajasthan Royals’ playes S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who have been charge-sheeted by the Delhi Police in the IPL spot-fixing case, will be discussed Friday when the cricket board’s disciplinary committee meets to discuss the report submitted by Anti-Corruption Unit chief Ravi Sawani.

The three players have been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their involvement in the spot-fixing scandal. They were arrested by the Delhi Police after a midnight raid in Mumbai on May 16.

Sawani, who is also a former chief of International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit, was asked to investigate the alleged involvement of the three cricketers in conceding a pre-determined number of runs per over in exchange for money during the IPL.

The Indian Express summarised Sawani’s report on S Sreesanth, Amit Singh and Siddharth Trivedi. A quick look at what they found:

Sawani on Sreesanth

According to Sreesanth, the only reason he admitted certain wrongdoings before Delhi Police and signed some confessional statements was to make the police officials happy and get out. He further told Sawani that the confessions were a result of continuous torture and interrogation.

However Delhi police officials told Sawani, “When Jiju told Sreesanth that he had already told the police everything and that there was no point hiding facts any further, both cried and hugged each other before Sreesanth also admitted to being part of the fix.”

Sawani’s takeaway: “I am fully convinced that Sreesanth was part of the fix and, therefore, I confirm my earlier findings of holding S Sreesanth guilty of the offences listed in my initial report.”

Sawani on Amit Singh

According to Amit Singh, Chandila never fixed anything during a match and was simply out to make a quick buck. He was instead fooling the bookies by simply accepting money from them. Chandila even called up Amit Singh and complained that the bookies were harassing him with repeated calls.

But Amit appears to be “the bad fish that spoils the entire pond” as he got players in touch with the fixers. He gave out the numbers of the players and even made personal introductions.

Sawani’s takeway: “He deserves no sympathy and I hold him guilty of all offences listed against him.”

Sawani on Trivedi

He took money from Chandila for meeting bookies, allowed Chandila and Amit Singh to buy him gifts but said that he only took the money but never agreed to fix. Trivedi said that he gave back Rs 2.5 lakh to Chandila and Rs 1 lakh to Amit Singh. Sawani has mentioned that Trivedi is “30 years old and fully capable of comprehending why people were buying him gifts and gifting enormous sums of money.”

Sawani’s takeway: “The fact remains that Trivedi failed to report the receipt, clearly knowing the people and the purpose.”