Mumbai's Hiken Shah suspended from cricket

The BCCI has suspended Hiken Shah, a Mumbai batsman, with immediate effect after he was found guilty of breaching the board's anti-corruption code for participants.

"Hiken Shah made a corrupt approach to one of his colleagues from first-class cricket, who is also a member of one of the IPL teams," BCCI said in a statement. "The approached player immediately informed the incident to his franchise team. The franchise team followed the process of informing the incident to the Anti Corruption Unit of the BCCI. Based on the information, BCCI President, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, instructed ACU to conduct an immediate enquiry into the matter.

"After a detailed inquiry into the reported incident, the inquiry commissioner found Hiken Shah guilty of committing breach of Articles 2.1.1; 2.1.2; and 2.1.4 of the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code for participants and recommended their provisions to the BCCI President."

While the BCCI hasn't revealed the name of the first-class cricketer, it is understood that Shah had approached a Mumbai team-mate ahead of IPL 2015. That falls against the above mentioned articles which prohibit any player from "seeking to fix", "offering any bribe or other rewards" or "improperly influencing" the course of a match.

The BCCI anti-corruption unit inquiry found that Shah had made an "exploratory approach" and now a three-member disciplinary committee, which includes BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, KP Kajaria and Jyotiraditya Scindia, will now take a final call on Shah's fate after hearing him out.

"BCCI has zero tolerance for corruption in the game of cricket," Dalmiya said. "We have and we will take swift action against such incidents to set a precedent and control the menace of corruption in the game. While placing the player under suspension, I have referred the matter to the disciplinary committee of the BCCI to take further action against the player involved."

Board secretary Anurag Thakur, meanwhile, was pleased that precautionary measures put in place to keep cricket clean were working: "This particular incident demonstrates that BCCI's education policy against corruption is showing results, as the player approached was vigilant enough to report the matter to the ACU of the BCCI. Having said that, the fight against corruption is an ongoing battle and we will not leave any stone unturned. BCCI is committed to keep cricket corruption-free."

Shah is presently playing for Whalley Cricket Club in the Ribblesdale Cricket League, a minor county league in Lancashire. He is the second Mumbai cricketer to be found guilty of being involved in corrupt activities. Left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan, who has been chargesheeted for his involvement in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, was banned for life by the BCCI for his involvement in spot-fixing.

"It is shocking for us. After the Ankeet Chavan case, we never thought any Mumbai cricketer would even think of being involved in such activities, but there has been another case and it is shocking," Dr PV Shetty, joint secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association, told ESPNcricinfo.

Shah made his first-class debut for Mumbai in 2006-07. After failing to cement a place, he moved to Jammu & Kashmir as a professional in 2009-10. Later, he decided to return home and was back playing for Mumbai in the 2011-12 Ranji season.

In November 2012, Shah made an impressive 92 against England. He continued that form into domestic season and emerged as a key architect of Mumbai's Ranji title in 2012-13. But patchy performances since led to his being dropped midway through the 2014-15 season.