Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar on Tuesday remanded cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and two bookies to judicial custody till June 4. As the court rejected the Delhi police Special Cell’s plea demanding two more days of police custody to question them in connection with the IPL ‘spot-fixing case’, the duo will be sent to Tihar Jail.
While commenting the prosecution’s argument that immediately after Sreesanth’s arrest his hotel room was cleaned up and articles removed, the court said, “Admittedly, Sreesanth cannot be held liable for instances at his back (sic). I am of the considered opinion that it would amount to injustice to the accused.”
Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan stated before the court that telephone intercepts with the police suggested that several big names may be involved. He also said that Sreesanth has to be confronted with Shukla who might have removed the electronic gadgets and data kept in the cricketer’s room and at pacer’s instance `5 lakh have to be recovered as Jiju Janardhan had taken `10 lakh on his behalf.
Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Sreesanth, opposed the plea for his police custody saying it was completely unjustified after he being interrogated in its custody for 12 days. She said the grounds of police custody are “so completely untenable”. The Court also sent Chandila, bookies Chandresh Patel and Ashwani Aggarwal to judicial custody. The bail plea of Rajasthan Royals player Ankeet Chavan was dismissed by the court, while Sreesanth's will be heard on June 4.
