MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s anti-corruption unit (ACU) has been investigating cases of alleged match-fixing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and has zeroed in on an India player, an Indian Premier League regular and a Ranji Trophy coach, Indian Express reported Monday.
According to the newspaper, bookies and match-fixers have taken control of a TNPL franchise through an illegal deal with the team owner and people linked to bookies are now spreading in different teams.
IE, quoting sources close to the investigations, reports that the investigators got wind of the operation following a money dispute between those involved.
According to the daily, the ACU is taking legal opinion on this issue and is likely to lodge an FIR with the state police in the coming days.
BCCI’s ACU chief Ajit Singh told the newspaper that there were “a few instances when players were approached”.
“These players have informed us and we are checking who has approached them. We are taking statements asking when they were approached, under what circumstances. Usually, the messages come on WhatsApp, so we are trying to establish IDs. We haven’t questioned any team owners, yet,” the former Rajasthan DGP told the daily.
The match fixing allegation linked to the TNPL is arguably the biggest scandal to hit Indian cricket since the IPL spot fixing case of 2013. There have been several cases of wide-spread corruption in unofficial micro-T20 leagues, but this is the first time a high-profile BCCI-recognised tournament has come under such a cloud.
TNPL is a BCCI-recognised tournament with some of the top India stars, including Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar, playing.
