The Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi and the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad were the two venues that hosted the second leg of IPL 2021 matches before it got indefinitely suspended on May 4. However, on two separate occasions at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, potential corruptors were identified including the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 2.
BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) Chief Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala confirmed the same to PTI. Delhi Police arrested two individuals with fake accreditations on the day the match between RR and SRH took place.
In another incident – at the same stadium but on a different matchday – a man ‘in the garb of a cleaner’ fled from the scene after ACU officials caught him having a telephonic conversation. Currently, he’s being traced by Delhi Police as the ACU managed to retrieve two mobile phones from the concerned suspect.
According to them, the said person could have been engaging in ‘pitch siding’ which essentially conveys the information from the ground to a remote location in order to beat the delay on TV. It can be used to get an advantage while betting on passages in play before the live computerised odds shift.
“One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the details to Delhi Police. While that particular offender managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police,” Hussein told PTI on Wednesday.
“We are thankful to Delhi Police that in a separate incident they caught two other persons from the Kotla on ACU tip-off.
“So on two separate days, these people managed to get access to Kotla. The one who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police,” Hussein said. “I am confident that he will be nabbed in a day or two. He is a small fry working for a couple of hundred or some thousand bucks may be.”
“He was standing (inside Feroz Shah Kotla premises) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him: ‘What are you doing here?’ He said: “Main apne girlfriend se baat kar raha hoon” [I am talking to my girlfriend].
“My officer then asked him to dial the number he was talking to and then asked him to hand over the phones. Just when he was going through the contents of his phone, the guy fled from the spot,” Hussein said, without divulging which match-day this incident took place on.
“It was one of the evening matches in Delhi. He was wearing an ID card. Also what raised suspicion was he had two mobiles.
“The information he may be supplying could be to someone more influential among bookmakers, and so we needed to inform the Delhi Police. Delhi Police has responded positively and thus next instance two people were arrested,” concluded Hussein.
