Four more persons, including a friend of cricketer Sreesanth, were arrested here in the IPL spot-fixing scandal even as investigators conducted searches for apprehending more bookies involved in the case, police said today.
With this, 26 people, including Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, have been arrested in the scandal since May 16 when it came to light.
Sreesanth’s friend Abhishek Shukla, who allegedly helped in hiding the cricketer’s money and some articles soon after his arrest, was among the four fresh arrests, a senior police official said.
Shukla, who joined investigations yesterday, has been charged under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and taken to Mumbai for recovery of articles and money owned by Sreesanth which he had hidden, the sources said.
“We have accounted for Rs 5 lakh out of the Rs 10 lakh Sreesanth got for alleged spot-fixing. Shukla has allegedly hidden the remaining amount belonging to Sreesanth as well as Jiju Janardhan, the cricketer’s friend.
“Soon after Sreesanth’s arrest, Jiju made a call to Shukla asking to clean up Sreesanth’s room,” the official said.
The three other arrested were linked to Chandila, another Rajasthan Royal player already in police custody. Their arrest came following Bhupender Nagar, a bouncer, landing in police net.
The three have been identified as Vicky Chowdhury, a bouncer who allegedly introduced Chandila to two alleged punters, Nitin Jain and Vinod Sharma, who owns a property dealing firm.
Jain also owns a factory which makes a chemical used in the manufacturing of blankets and pillows.