Changing bat, folding sleeves were signals player gave bookie before fixing in Karnataka league

Vishwanathan signalled to bookies his ‘agreement’ to score less than 10 runs in 20 balls with a change of bat and the rolling up of his sleeves, police have alleged.

Vishwanathan and Prasad were lured into alleged spot-fixing in the 18th game of the KPL 2018 season by a Chandigarh-based bookie identified as Manoj Kumar alias Monty. He was introduced to Prasad by a player from the Shimoga Lions team Nishant Singh Shekawat, police have said in an initial report.

According to the police the spot-fixing, which took place during the August 31st game was planned nearly a week earlier following a meeting between Prasad and the bookie Manoj Kumar at the lobby of a hotel in east Bengaluru.

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A day prior to the match — during a practice session — Vishwanathan was instructed by Prasad about the deal, where he would have to score less than 10 runs in 20 balls and would communicate his participation in the fix by changing bats and rolling up his sleeves in the course of his innings.

Bengaluru Blasters were set a target of 118 runs in the truncated 18-over game by the Hubbali Tigers at the Srikantadatta Wodeyar ground in Mysuru. The Blasters opener who had by then earned a reputation of being a power hitter, scored a laboured nine off 17 balls.

After eight balls were bowled in the match Vishwanathan called for a change of bat and at the end of the third over rolled up his shirt sleeves. “The change of bat and the lifting of the sleeves were pre-determined signals that had been agreed upon by the bookies and the player,” police sources said.

According to the police probe in the case, the bowling coach Vinu Prasad was being influenced by multiple bookies during the KPL season to bring players into the fixing fold. Apart from the Chandigarh bookie Manoj Kumar, the police have also named two others — Venky and Khan — as being involved in trying to get players to be part of fixing.

The arrested Vishwanathan and Vinu Prasad have been booked for cheating and criminal conspiracy with regard to the KPL 2018 slow-batting episode. Police sources said they are investigating multiple incidents of alleged fixing that have occurred during the KPL seasons over the last couple of years and are carrying out arrests on the basis of strong evidence.

“Multiple bookies were involved in the fixing incidents and the names of several bookies have come up and they are being investigated,” police sources said.

The Bengaluru crime branch has since September arrested the owner of the Belagavi Panthers team Ali Asfak Thara, 40; a celebrity drummer in the KPL and other tournaments like the IPL and TNPL, Bhavesh Bafna, 26; and has named two Delhi bookies Sanyam Gulati and Jatin Sethi for involvement in the betting racket in the KPL.

The police have also questioned Arvind Venkatesh Reddy, a real estate and hospitality businessman, who is the owner of the Ballari Tuskers KPL team, since 2017.

A member of the Ballari Tuskers team in the 2019 IPL fast bowler Bhavesh Gulecha, 26, has told the police that he was approached on behalf of bookies by Bafna, 26, the celebrity drummer, to underperform during a KPL match.

Gulecha has given a statement to the police saying he was approached by Bafna to give away more than 10 runs an over in a match in the 2019 KPL. The Bengaluru police have so far filed three different cases of illegal betting based on the KPL probe.

Earlier the police arrested Thara, for placing bets on KPL matches with a bookie based in Dubai. Thara is alleged to have influenced many players in the KPL to participate in the illegal betting racket.