NEW DELHI — Indian bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and 38 others were charged Tuesday over a spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League that has rocked the sport, a prosecutor said. Indian prosecutors filed charges in a New Delhi court against the 39 alleging links to organized crime during this year's edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 competition. “The players and others have also been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonesty,” special public prosecutor Rajesh Mohan said. Two of Sreesanth's teammates from the Rajasthan Royals franchise, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, were also charged along with bookmakers and underworld figures. They were charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, Mohan said. The three players were arrested in May along with scores of bookies as part of a police investigation into the spot-fixing scandal, which has caused outrage among fans in the cricket-mad nation. Indian court asks BCCI to re-investigate spot-fixing An Indian court Tuesday said the spot-fixing allegations from this year's IPL should be reinvestigated after declaring that a panel set up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India was “illegal and unconstitutional.” The panel had cleared two teams and its officials of the charges. “The entire incident needs to be reinvestigated,” the Bombay High Court said in its order after the Cricket Association of Bihar filed a case against the BCCI. “There was disparity in the evidence collected by the probe panel.” The order effectively strikes down the panel's report clearing Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra of betting and keeping in touch with illegal bookmakers during the IPL. — Agencies
