Hansie bookie finally arrested

Disgraced former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje.

Disgraced former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje.

Published Sep 27, 2016

Share

Indian national Sanjeev Chawla, accused in the match-fixing scandal that brought down former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, has been arrested in London, pending an extradition hearing. The Delhi police plan to send a team to London to dig further into the scandal.

India Express reports that Chawla was arrested in London in June, and UK officials have written to Delhi Police asking for details about security arrangements and facilities at the jail he would be kept in.

Delhi police replied that Chawla would be housed in Tihar Jail, which they described as a central facility following international standards.

Chawla’s extradition hearing will take place at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London on October 3.

He was arrested at his North London home.

Delhi police stumbled upon the match-fixing controversy involving Cronje in April 2000 when they recorded a telephone conversation that was allegedly between Chawla and Cronje.

The arrests relate to charges filed in 2013 that he fixed cricket matches in 2000.

Chawla and Cronje were named in a 70-page charge sheet by the crime branch for ‘fixing matches played between India and South Africa from February 16, 2000, to March 20, 2000, in India’.

The scandal came to light in April 2000, when Delhi police intercepted a conversation between blacklisted bookies and Cronje, in which it was learnt that the South Africa captain had accepted money to lose matches.

Chawla has also been accused of offering money to two England players in August 1999.

After New Delhi police unearthed the scandal, Cronje lost the Proteas captaincy.

He confessed at the King Commission in 2000 - at which former Protea Herschelle Gibbs was among those who testified. Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002.

Gibbs admitted he had accepted a cash offer from Cronje to perform poorly in a one-day international match.

The Mercury

Related Topics: