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Journalism of Courage
AMIT Singh,one of the 11 bookies arrested Thursday in connection with the alleged IPL spot-fixing scandal involving bowlers of Rajasthan Royals,was a pace bowler with the same team until last year,Delhi Police said.
Amit has played for Royals, Special CP (Special Cell) S N Srivastava said. The 31-year-old player is based in Ahmedabad and represents Gujarat in domestic tournaments.
Police claimed that Amit was heard striking a spot-fixing deal with Ajit Chandila in one of the phone conversations they intercepted.
Amit rose through the junior ranks and is a known face on the Ranji Trophy circuit.
A useful new-ball bowler and a hard-hitting tailender,Amit first made it to the Royals side in season 2 when it was led by Shane Warne. That edition saw him rise in prominence because of his tight bowling and knack of taking wickets. He even ended up as Man of the Match in one of the games.
However,he was reported for a suspect bowling action subsequently in the season. A repeat offence saw him banned from bowling. But he was to return next year and the last game he played for the Royals was in May 2012.
A year later,Amit has allegedly been heard asking Chandila what signal he would give from the ground to indicate that the fixing deal was on.
I will pull both my T-shirts up and down and will then look up before starting the over, Chandila is heard replying.
Police said that the Royals bowler failed to give this pre-decided signal and this led to an argument over payment between the two.
