Sports officials in India have revealed that a former India test bowler, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, and two others have been arrested in Delhi for spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League.
Expressing their rage on the news of spot-fixing scandal, cricket fans in Bangalore burnt an effigy of the bowler in a protest against dishonesty in the game as the cricket board (BCCI) immediately suspended Sreesanth and team mates, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, promising to go further than suspension if investigations actually show them to be guilty.
According to investigations by the Delhi Police report, the three Indian bowlers took money to concede pre-determined number of runs in three different IPL matches.
Looking like the ringleader, Sreesanth agreed to concede 13 or more runs in his second over of a May 9 match at Mohali for 4 million Indian rupees ($72,900) and that secret spot-fixing codes were used by the three Rajasthan Royal players in different matches held in north-western Jaipur, western Pune and Mumbai.
Paceman Sreesanth, 30, has a chequered past littered with on-field antics that frequently landed him in trouble since his 2006 test debut at home against England.
The combative right-arm speedster has played 27 tests and 53 one-day internationals but injuries and disciplinary issues have kept him out of the side since late 2011.
Police investigations also highlighted an instance when rupees 2 million ($36.44 thousand) was paid to Ajit Chandila for throwing away the match between Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors on May 5.
Such spot-fixing involves the manipulation of individual incidents within a match which may not affect the outcome of the contest, most famously exposed in a London trial and jailing of three Pakistan cricketers in 2011.
In other instance, Ankeet Chavan was paid rupees six million throwing away the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday (May 15).
According to Police chief in Delhi; Kumar, his department had prior information of the on-going gambling in Indian cricket league matches and they had arrested bookies from different part of the country.
Kumar said that the players used unobserved signals like lifting their t-shirt, taking out their towel on the field to hint to the bookies regarding the fixing progress.
Several officials of the BCCI could not hide their shock on learning of the fixing scandals by the players.