Delhi Police on Wednesday made a major breakthrough as they got custody of Sanjeev Chawla,key accused in the 2000 spot-fixing case involving late South African captain Hansie Cronje and several former cricket stars, after completing legal formalities for his extradition from a UK court, flew to Delhi with the now 50-year-old bookie.
WATCH: Sanjeev Chawla, accused in match-fixing racket extradited from London
An Insight Into 2000 Match Fixing (South Africa Tour of India)
April 7 2000: Delhi police Crime Branch officer Ishwar Singh Redhu revealed they had a recording of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a representative of an Indian betting syndicate, over match-fixing allegations. Three other Proteas cricketers, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje, and Pieter Strydom, were also implicated.
April 8 2000: The United Cricket Board of South Africa denied their players were involved in match-fixing. Cronje said "the allegations are completely without substance".However, on 11 April Cronje was sacked as captain after confessing to Ali Bacher that he had not been "entirely honest". He admitted accepting between $10,000 to $15,000 from a London-based bookmaker for 'forecasting' results, not match fixing, during the recent one day series in India.
7 June 2000: The King Commission was set up. Gibbs revealed that Cronje had offered him $15,000 to score less than 20 runs in the 5th ODI at Nagpur. He also admitted of another offer of $15,000 to Henry Williams to concede more than 50 runs in that same match. Gibbs scored 74 off 53 balls and Williams injured his shoulder and couldn't complete his second over, so neither received the $15,000. Off-spinner Derek Crookes, who was also a witness, admitted being surprised to open the bowling at Nagpur.
As soon as Delhi Police filed the FIR in the first week of March 2000, Chawla moved to the UK. He had gone there for the first time on a business visa in 1996, but his Indian passport was revoked in 2000, and he obtained a British passport in 2005.
June 14, 2016: Chawla was arrested in London following India's request for his extradition, and UK officials then asked Delhi Police for details of security arrangements and facilities in the jail he will be kept in. This was done after Chawla raised several questions about security and facilities in Indian jails.
The UK High Court had dispatched a sealed envelope to Home Department to take a final call on Chawla, whose appeal against extradition was turned down by two judges of the High Court on Thursday, highly placed sources in Delhi Police told IANS.
All About Bookie Sanjeev Chawla, Key Accused in 2000 Match Fixing Scandal
According to the court documents filed by Chawla in the UK High Court, he is known to be as a Delhi-born businessman, who moved to the United Kingdom on a business visa in 1996, where he has been based while making trips back and forth to India. In 2000, his Indian passport was revoked. He was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2003. In 2005, he got UK passport and has since been a British citizen.
In details of the case that emerged in court, Chawla was introduced to South African skipper Cronje in January-February 2000. It was suggested to Cronje, by Chawla and another person, that he could make significant amounts of money if he agreed to lose cricket matches. Money was paid to Cronje at the time of the pending South African tour to India.
The tour took place in February-March 2000, with Chawla, Cronje and others conspiring to fix cricket matches in exchange for payment, with Chawla reportedly playing a central role, including direct contact with Cronje, who was killed in a plane crash in June 2002.
Both Chawla and Cronje were named in a 70-page charge sheet by the Crime Branch for "fixing matches played between India and South Africa from February 16, 2000 to March 20, 2000 in India", according to reports.
London based businessman Sanjeev Chawla, who turned a major bookie for the D-Company in the late 1990s, would be the second person to be extradited from London since UK signed an extradition treaty with India in 1992.
Sources said that Chawla operated one of the biggest betting syndicates in late 1990s under the patronage of Mumbai-based business tycoons and operatives of D-Company. While Chawla fixed matches through top cricketers in South Africa, India, Pakistan and other countries, D-Company ensured that bids are settled smoothly through overseas hawala transactions. The spot fixing scandal was patronised by D-Company boss Dawood Ibrahim and his lieutenant Chhota Shakeel.
According to a Daily Mail report, for the past 10 years Chawla has been living with his wife Deepika and their two young sons in a 1 million pound rented six-bedroom property in Temple Fortune, north London. He runs a catering business in Kennington, south-east London.