Sanjeev Chawla questioned the security and facility in Tihar jail to save himself
Delhi Police authorities brought bookie Sanjeev Chawla to India from the United Kingdom, after legal formalities for his extradition was completed. A Delhi Police Crime Branch team was attending several court hearings in the extradition case over the past two months.
Sanjeev Chawla is a key accused in match-fixing case, 2000 involving late South African captain Hansie Cronje, considered among the biggest such scandals in cricket.
What was the match-fixing scandal?
The scandal news first broke out in April 2000. The Delhi Police intercepted a call between the then-South African captain Hansie Cronje and blacklisted bookie-Sanjeev Chawla. It was learnt in the call that Cronje had accepted money to lose matches.
The conversation between a national caption and a member of illegal betting syndicate sent shockwaves through the world of cricket, forcing authorities across the cricket-playing-nations to probe the corruption among players.
The CBI Investigation led to life bans of then-Indian-captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma, and a five-year ban on stylish batsman Ajay Jadeja. Although, bans were later overturned by the various courts.
South African authorities banned Cronje for lifetime and Herschelle Gibbs for six months.
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Chronology of the Chawala case?
Sanjeev Chawla, a conspirator in the match-fixing scandal case, flew to the United Kingdom in 2000. Indian government revoked his Indian passport that year, he later obtained a British passport in 2005.
Delhi police filed a 70-page charge-sheet in the scandal, naming Chawla and the Hansie Cronje (the cricketer had died in a plane crash in June 2002). Chawla was accused by the crime branch of fixing matches played between South Africa and India from February 16, 2000, to March 20, 2000, in India. He is also accused of offering money to two cricketers of England in 1999.
Chawla was then arrested in London following India’s request for his extradition. Sanjeev Chawla raised several questions about the security and facilities in the jail he would be kept in. Chawla went to the court taking the matter and won it in 2017, in Westminster Magistrates’ court. But in November 2018, UK High Court quashed the lower court after the Indian government’s assurance on prison conditions in Tihar.
The magistrates’ court in January 2019 issued a fresh order in favour of Chawla’s extraditions. Former UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed off the order under the India-UK Extradition Treaty a month later.
Chawla then filed an appeal of against the extradition order in the UK High Court. It was turned down in January 2020. He was finally put into the custody of the Delhi police on Wednesday, who brought him to India the next day.
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