Bookies employed cleaner to place bets during IPL

Monitoring Desk

Karachi: Bookies employed an accredited cleaner at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium for doing ‘pitch slidding’ which helps ball-to-ball betting during the recently postponed Indian Premier League (IPL).

According to BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit Chief Shabbir Hussain, a practice of passing inside information for the purpose of gambling or placing bets took place during one of the games.

“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 told Press Trust of India (PTI).

Hussain also revealed how did the cleaning staff come under the radar of ACU. “He was standing (inside Feroz Shah Kotla premises) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him ‘What are you doing here?’
He said: “Main apne girlfriend se baat kar raha hoon. (I am talking to my girlfriend).

“My officer then asked him to dial the number he was talking to and then asked him to hand over the phones. Just when he was going through the contents of his phone, the guy fled from the spot…Also what raised suspicion was he had two mobiles,” Hussain maintained.

Interestingly, cleaner was wearing the IPL accreditation card which all the class IV staff receives during the tournament. It includes bus drivers, cleaners, porters etc. It is expected that he provided information to bookies during one of the evening matches in Delhi.

Earlier, the Delhi police had caught two people carrying fake accreditation, on May 2, during the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.