‘Chhattisgarh-based people offered bribes’

T'puram: The police team probing the fixing and betting allegations surrounding the Kerala Cricket League matches has found that the players were offered bribes to sabotage matches by Chhattisgarh-based people.
The probe team received the full address of the accused. If the address is found genuine, the team will leave for Chhattisgarh to trace them with the help of local police there.
Two players were offered bribes amounting to lakhs of rupees to sabotage the matches. They were offered Rs 1 lakh for each wide/no ball they bowled.
On the complaint of the anti-corruption manager of the league, Fort and Cantonment police registered the cases and began probes.
Since the accused contacted the players through Instagram and WhatsApp, the probe team requested the nodal officers to reveal the identities of the profiles. The team will also examine the social media of the accused.
Akhil Scaria, a player of Calicut Globsters, was contacted through an Instagram ID ‘Cricketers Hub01'. Amal Ramesh of Aries Kollam Sailors was contacted by a person who introduced himself as Surender from Chandigarh. Amal was offered Rs 1 lakh for bowling a wide or no ball, and more money was offered for bowling more such balls. Akhil was contacted by the accused on Aug 25 and Amal on Sept 9.
Police registered cases under BNS Sections 49 and 56 for abetting an offence and 62 for attempting to commit a punishable offence, 318 for cheating and 319 for cheating by personation, 66 (D) of the IT Act, and Section three of the Kerala Gaming Act-1960.