The three Rajasthan Royals players have confessed their involvement in the spot-fixing scam. Ajit Chandila admitted that he tried to lure some of his foreign teammates into spot-fixing.
Sources said perhaps all three players realised that they had committed a crime, as they spent a sleepless night in jail. In fact, each time interrogators grilled Shantakumaran Sreesanth, he had tears in his eyes.
"Though Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan stayed close to each other, Chandila preferred to remain alone and looked distressed.
“Sreesanth, who was directly approached by State-level cricketer-turned-bookie Jiju Janardhana, said it (fixing) was a great mistake. He also said that Jiju was the one who
persuaded him to do all this and he repents it. Chavan has also admitted his guilt,” the sources said.
However, Sreesanth’s lawyer said that his client was innocent and had not confessed.
Sources said initially the players and bookies tried to skirt questions posed by the investigators, but after they were confronted with the taped conversations, call detail records and other evidence regarding payments in lieu of spot fixing, they confessed to their crime.
Sources said that several players of other teams, including RR are still under the police scanner.
It has emerged that Chandila made unsuccessful attempts to convince a few of his teammates to get involved in spot fixing. When they refused, Chandila asked Ankeet Chavan to be part of the deal and Chavan agreed.
On April 6, Chandila met with the bookies, Chandresh Patel, Manan and Amit Singh, at the Country Club where the bookies asked him to rope in more players for spot fixing and asked him to bring them to their private party in Jaipur where the deal could
be discussed.
“Chandila told the investigators that he approached Siddharth Trivedi, Brad Hodge and Kevin Cooper but they turned down his proposal. Chandila then introduced Ankeet to the bookies
“A party was organised by the bookies to chalk out the detailed plan for fixing in Jaipur. These players attended the party at the private club, however, Trivedi, Hodge and Cooper did not come to party. Chandila also gave the bookies the details of the game plan for the match,” the sources said.
Delhi Police Special Cell sleuths started the grilling session at around 8.30 pm on Thursday as they were brought back to its lodhi Colony office after seeking five days' police custody from the court.
The interrogation went on till 11.30 pm and in between the accused players were also served dinner. After the initial questioning, they were allowed to sleep.
However, Sreesanth refused to eat while Chavan, Chandila and the bookies ate a proper meal in police custody.
The real interrogation started after Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and Special CP, Special Cell SN Srivastava reached the lodhi Road office of the Special Cell on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the three Rajasthan Royals team members spent a sleepless night in the Special Cell's office.
"Sreesanth refused dinner last night and kept weeping. However on Friday morning he ate white bread and tea and later he also had Rajma Chawal," the sources added.
On Friday evening, Delhi Police spokesperson, Rajan Bhagat denied reports of plans to question RR owners Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra and team skipper Rahul Dravid.
"The news report in a section of the media that Delhi Police may interrogate Shilpa Shetty, Raj Kundra or Rahul Dravid after the IPl Match in Delhi on May 21 has no substance and Delhi Police has no reasons to invite them to join investigation of the spot fixing case," said the statement issued by the police.