Spelling fresh trouble for those allegedly involved in the IPl spot-fixing scandal, a city court on Monday said that some of the arrested accused persons were in “nexus” with organised crime syndicates, which would bring the case under the fold of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
“In the light of incriminating evidence that some of the accused persons named above were having direct link or nexus with organised crime syndicates, facilitating and running a betting racket, that would bring the case within the fold of Section 2(1)(e) read with Section 3 of MCOCA,” Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said.
The observations came while granting bail to suspended cricketer Ajit Chandila, who was arrested in connection with the case. The order assumes significance as a trial court earlier on June 10 had granted bail to suspended cricketers S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan and had ticked off Special Cell of the
Delhi Police for slapping stringent provisions of MCOCA on them.The court also granted bail to ex-Ranji player Baburao Yadav and alleged bookie Deepak Kumar but dismissed bail applications of five others. Chandila was arrested on May 16.
The court, in its 35-page order, said although Chandila was prima facie alleged to be a “key fixer”, there was no credible evidence against him regarding his knowledge about the entire scandal.
“All said and done, the evidence against accused Ajit Chandila is uninspiring since mens rea is a necessary ingredient for commission of a crime under MCOCA and there is no credible evidence” to show that he had “any knowledge of or any connection with accused bookies and conduit Sunil Bhatia, having a nexus with
the organised crime syndicate,” court observed.