From players to bookies and starlets to franchise owners, the police have now spread their web to the heretofore unsuspected clan of players' agents, who would have to procure accreditation from BCCI from next year onwards.
According to sources, many agents, some of them of top players, are under the scanner. Most prominent among them is a top player's agent, who works out of UP. Though he did not want to be dragged into who all are being probed, but ADG (law and order) Arun Kumar, Uttar Pradesh Police, said that it's a routine probe with immense possibilities.
"We don't want anything to leave to chance. While investigating, we have to probe every aspect and all those who are involved in the setup, such as players, support staff, player agents and even the franchisee owners, as we have understood by last week," he told The New Indian Express.
A relatively low-profile cricketing centre, and without a franchise based out of the city, Uttar Pradesh wasn't initially under the betting radar. But crackdowns subsequent to the eruption of spot-fixing scandal proved that betting and bookies have been flourishing in the state. As many as half-a-dozen bookies were detained and their dens busted in less than a week from tier-two cities such as Varanasi, Meerut, Kanpur and Ghaziabad.
Moreover, the state police has been closely monitoring all the 10 cricketers from the state, who were part of various franchises in this edition's IPL. It has been reported that some top players form UP, who also played for India, are being monitored closely.
CSK’s Suresh Raina, Pune’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar, KXIP's Piyush Chawla and Praveen Kumar and RCB's Rudra Pratap Singh are some of the top names from the state playing in the IPL. Kumar claims they have managed decisive leads but would nab someone only if they have incriminating evidence against them.
"It’s true we are continuing our investigations and several people involved in the racket are on our radar. We can't divulge the details now, as it involves a lot of formalities and procedures. Our, agencies, though are working hard, " he stated. "We have to be patient and wait for the result."
