IPL spot-fixing saga: Four Hyderabad players' names surface in investigation

In a fresh revelation in the IPL spot-fixing saga, names of four players from the Sunrisers Hyderabad have now surfaced as part of the scandal.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Mumbai bookie Chandresh Patel, who was arrested by the Mumbai Police, admitted during the interrogation that he had met Thisara Perera, Bihari, Ashish Reddy and Karn Sharma, as mentioned in the statement given by bookie Chandresh Patel to the Police. The Indian Express report says that the meeting was held at Le Meridien hotel in Pune on April 16 to discuss the nature of the potential ‘fix’.

Hyderabad’s media manager, Sankapani, chose not to respond to these allegations, “Our focus is on the sport right now. We are here to play cricket and nothing else,” he told the newspaper.

A senior Crime Branch officer, though, stated that the four Hyderabad players have not been named as accused in the chargesheet.

“The cricketers’ names cropped up in Chandresh Patel’s statement as he claimed that he met them. They find mention in the chargesheet only as part of Patel’s statement, but they have not been named as accused in the chargesheet,” the Investigation officer said.

“The matter was pursued by us till the extent possible, but it was found that this was merely an attempt to approach the cricketers, and there was no fixing that actually took place. Since it was merely an attempt by Patel, and nothing came of it, we did not pursue it any further,” he added.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has also dismissed the allegations against Perera, claiming that they have “full confidence in all their players.”