Ajit Chandila spent Rs 2.5 lakhs on denim pants

New Delhi: In a bid to crack down on IPL spot-fixing, the Delhi police on Saturday conducted raids at the Faridabad residence of Ajit Chandila for a second time establishing the Rajasthan Royals player’s key role in the syndicate.

Spot-fixing in IPL: Full Coverage» The police seized some ‘documents, money and other gadgets from his house’. It also refuted rumours about the players being under threat from the underworld, saying, “All of them indulged in this act willingly for money.” Expensive gifts, including watches, costly garments and random credit card shopping was also done to lure players, it added. “Cricketer-turned-bookie Amit Singh gifted Chandila two expensive watches, while Chandila himself bought two costly denim pants worth Rs 2.5 lakh,” an investigating official revealed. “Chandila used to send money to his Faridabad house through different people,” he added. The police also contacted a hotel in Chandigarh, where Chandila and a bookie met on May 9, to get CCTV footages to further crack the case. Police officials claimed that S Sreesanth never talked to any bookie over the phone to strike the deal but his close friend Jiju Janardhan did all the talking on his behalf. “Sreesanth used Jiju’s phone to make calls but he has never conversed with any bookie,” said an official. Investigators said they do not feel the need to conduct searches at the residences of Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan as they have enough proof against them. Television footages of three matches in question from the official broadcaster Set Max channel have also been sought by the police to get an idea of ‘what the arrested players were doing during the commercial breaks’. Several police teams have camped in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad to trace the money trail in the spot-fixing case. The Delhi police has also shared information with the Board of Control for Cricket in India twice and is ready to talk to International Cricket Council officials, if they seek any information regarding the case. Interestingly, special cell officials investigating the case, including inspector Badrish Dutt who was found dead in Gurgaon along with his woman acquaintance earlier this month, also attended and monitored several parties, where bookies struck deals or tried to make contacts with cricketers. Meanwhile, the police said that it would soon send the voice samples to the forensic department to certify the evidence and also seek further custody of the accused on Monday if needed. DNA