Sreesanth, 2 players among 36 discharged from spot-fixing case | Kerala Latest

A local court here today discharged cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan in the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL)-6 spot-fixing case, holding that the police had failed to make out a case against them.

Srinivasan, by virtue of being BCCI president, was also chairman of the disciplinary committee but had stepped aside, no decision could be taken on Chandila in his absence.

Soon after the court discharged Sreesanth, Ankeet and Chandile, the BCCI came out with a statement saying they have decided to stick to its ban on the three cricketers for the time being.

Ajit Chandila’s is an extremely curious case.

“It’s a huge relief. But anyway it is up to the board now to decide”, Ganguly said at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) annual prize distribution function.

PTI reported that Sreesanth broke down on hearing the order while the other accused including the players present in the courtroom started hugging each other. “God willing I will return to cricket”, he told India’s NDTV network. “Though, as discussed above the offence of MCOCA is not made out, it still needs to be examined if the accused persons who are alleged to be bookies and their associates and conduits be considered to have committed any offence under Public Gambling Act”, the court said.

In a recent Delhi High Court judgement, all the charges against Sreesanth were dropped due to lack of evidence. It was tough for me as a cricketer. “I am happy now…I am discharged from all charges”, the cricketer said when asked about the trauma he underwent when charges were framed against him linking him with underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhotta Shakeel. “There is no law with regards to match-fixing in the Indian Penal Code or any of the local laws”, he said.

“I was born to play cricket…the BCCI has been very supportive”, he said. The worst that can happen to a cricketer is stay behind the National Stadium and not be able to use it. I went through a lot of things but it is past now.

Amid the contentions on encircling of charges for the situation, the police had alluded to telephonic discussions among the denounced to brace their case that they were included in match fixing and betting.

“No evidence whatsoever is placed on record to show that they (Sreesanth, Janardhan, Shukla) were in communication with or associated with organised crime syndicate and were the abettors of the crimes allegedly being committed by the syndicate, ” the court said.

Team owners Gurunath Meiyappan (Chennai) and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan) were banned for life from cricketing activities in India by the panel.