New Delhi, May 5

The IPL, which was suspended indefinitely yesterday, witnessed potential corruptors using an accredited cleaner at Delhi’s Feroze Shah Kotla ground for doing “pitch-siding”, which helps in ball-to-ball betting.

BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Shabbir Hussain Shekhadam Khandwawala revealed that this new modus operandi was observed during an IPL game at the venue. During this game, a designated cleaner was using the time lag between actual match action and live TV coverage to help in ball-by-ball betting. This is known as “court-siding” or “pitch siding” — the practice of transmitting information from sporting events for the purpose of gambling.

“One of my ACU officers caught this person… While he managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with Delhi Police,” Khandwawala said. “In a separate incident, Delhi Police caught two other persons from the ground on ACU’s tip-off.”

The Delhi Police arrested two people with fake accreditation cards during the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 2.

Small fry

“The one who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police,” Khandwawala said. “He is a small fry working for a couple of hundred or some thousand bucks maybe.”

He agreed that lower-rung staff might be used by a betting syndicate since, because of the bio-bubble due to Covid-19, there was no access to team hotels.

Caught in action

How was the man doing “pitch-siding” caught?

“He was standing (at the venue) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him what he was doing there. He replied: ‘I am talking to my girlfriend’,” Khandwawala said.

The officer asked the man to hand him the phones after dialling the number he was talking to. When the officer was going through the contents of his phone, the man fled.

Khandwawala did not reveal the match during which this incident took place. Khandwawala said the ACU didn’t receive any complaint of corrupt approaches being made to players or support staff during the IPL.

He also said that during the Mumbai leg of the tournament, the hotel in which the Sunrisers Hyderabad players were staying had three people with questionable past records, with names in the ACU database. However, they could not come in contact with the players. “We got in touch with Mumbai Police… who got hold of those three,” he added. — PTI