Chandila sent to three-day police custody

Ajit Chandila, the suspended Rajasthan Royals cricketer, has been sent to a further three days in police custody by a Delhi court. He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the IPL spot-fixing case, along with his Royals team-mates Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan.

"The matter is being investigated under the provision of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)," the judge Ajay Kumar Jain said. "The prosecution is to be given full chance to unearth the entire crime. The accused is remanded in 3-days of police custody."

Chandila is required to corroborate evidence collected from the other accused cricketers after invoking MCOCA, which is a special law passed by the Maharashtra state government to tackle organised crime syndicates and terrorism and contains far stricter provisions relating to bail and admissibility of confessions compared to the Indian Penal Code. It allows police longer spells of custody of the accused.

Chandila has been directed to be produced in court on June 20. The court also deferred the hearing on bail applications of Chandila and five others, including former Ranji player Baburao Yadav, to June 22 after being informed by the police that some statements of the bookies arrested in the same case have to be placed on record.

Chandila was arrested on May 16 and remained in police custody till May 28 before he was remanded to judicial custody.

While Sreesanth and Chavan were granted bail on June 10 and released the next day, Chandila had not applied for bail.

The three Royals cricketers were arrested, along with 11 bookies, and were charged under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.