Delhi Bookie asked KPL bowler to give more than 10 runs in over, arrested

The Bengaluru police on Wednesday said it had arrested a bookie Bhavesh Bafna and booked his accomplice Sanyam- for allegedly approaching a bowler from Karnataka Premier League (KPL) team Bellary Tuskers to fix a match.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said the duo asked “a Bellary Tuskers bowler to concede more than ten runs per over but the bowler refused”. He added that while Bafna was arrested, the police was on the lookout for his accomplice. “Sanyam is allegedly from Delhi and he will be arrested soon,” Patil added.

The arrest comes days after police picked up the team owner of KPL team Belagavi Ali Ashfak Thara for his alleged role in a betting ring allegedly linked to persons in Dubai.

The Central Crime Branch had turned up the heat on the KPL in the wake of reports of suspicious activity during the annual event. Last year, suspicion was raised over a KPL match between Bijapur Bulls and Hubli Tigers.

Patil said while these cases were not related, they were part of a larger investigation into the KPL. “At present there does not seem to be any link between Thara and the bookies,” he said and added no further information about the case could be revealed at the moment.

Patil also denied any link between this case and another one filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India earlier this month about bookies approaching a woman cricketer during an India -England match earlier this year.

A senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the police had not made much headway in the woman cricketer’s case. “We have not even been given the address of the cricketer. If we are to proceed with the case, we will also have to interview the person to establish the facts,” the official said. “So far, the information we have received is from an internal investigation of the BCCI. We cannot proceed with that,” he added.