More skeletons tumble out in IPL spot fixing investigations

New Delhi - Female escorts and parties to lure players, underworld connections and teary-eyed confessions by once promising, famed players falling from grace. More skeletons are tumbling out as investigations progress into spot fixing in Indian premier League (IPL) scandal progress.

Here are some highlights:

* S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan of Rajasthan Royals were arrested late Wednesday along with 11 bookies. They were suspended Thursday pending an inquiry by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

* Of the 11 bookies, Chandresh Patel, who was arrested from Mumbai’s Andheri area may be the main conspirator in this case. He has been spot fixing for many years, police said.

* Sources said that Sreesanth was directly approached by cricketer-turned bookie Jiju Janardhan. A distant cousin of Sreesanth, he has also been arrested. He had played for Kerala.

* Chavan was the first to break down in police custody and confess to spot fixing, followed by teary-eyed Sreesanth and Chandila, who came clean hours later.

* Police sources say the bookies provided female escorts to lure players. Sreesanth was arrested from Trident Hotel in south Mumbai’s Nariman Point late Wednesday. He was with a woman.

* Chandila had approached two more players to spot fix after bookies asked him to rope in more people. The two players were invited to a party to discuss the deal but they refused, police sources revealed.

* Sreesanth was the only who went without dinner while his two teammates, along with the 11 bookies, had a hearty meal Thursday night in police custody. The fast bowler had rajma-chawal for brunch the next day.

* It was from the call records of an aide of Tiger Memon, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, that the Delhi Police first stumbled upon the plan to spot fix IPL matches.

* The BCCI also suspended Gujarat medium pacer Amit Singh who, during his stint with Rajasthan Royals, was allegedly used by the bookies to fix deals with cricketers.

* The police have denied media reports that Rajasthan Royals’ owners Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra or captain Rahul Dravid would be investigated.