The recently-suspended IPL witnessed potential corruptors plugging an accredited cleaner at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground for doing “pitch-siding” which helps ball-to-ball betting, BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit chief Shabbir Hussain Shekhadam Khandwawala has revealed.
The new modus operandi was observed during one of the IPL games at New Delhi where a designated cleaner was using the time lag between actual match action and Live TV coverage to help in ball-by ball betting, which is also known as court-siding or pitch siding.
Pitch-siding is the practice of transmitting information from sporting events for the purpose of gambling, or directly placing bets.
“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,” Hussain, a former DG of Gujarat Police, said 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.”
The Delhi Police arrested two people with fake accreditation cards during the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad on May 2.
“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,” Hussain 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,” the ACU supremo said.
But he did agree that lower-rung staff might be used by a bigger syndicate since, because of Covid-19, there is no access to hotels given the bio-secure measures.
“...As situations and circumstances change, so does the modus operandi of crime. But we are up for it,” Hussaid said.
He also said that during the Mumbai leg, the hotel in which SunRisers Hyderabad team was staying had three people with questionable past record and whose names were there in ACU database. However, they couldn’t come in contact of the players. “The moment we had information, we got in touch with Mumbai Police. The Police Commissioner of Mumbai took immediate cognisance and the Mumbai Police got hold of those three,” he added.