Recently, Indian Express had reported about the international tennis match-fixing syndicate kingpin Ravinder Singh Dandiwal was in India after being identified by the Australian police. The newspaper had reported a fake T20 league being run in Mohali, Punjab in name of Sri Lanka.
Now the same newspaper reports that the kingpin has been arrested by the Punjab Police.
“After interrogation from the two accused arrested earlier, the Mohali Police arrested the kingpin of fixing racket Ravinder Singh Dandiwal, son of Gurnam Singh and resident of house number 108, Nohar, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan from Mohali on July 5,” Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said at a press conference on Monday.
The police are also exploring his possible connection with the fake Uva T20 League tournament. The Indian Express last week reported of the Sri Lanka T20 League, purportedly played in Sri Lanka but actually held at Sawara village near Mohali and the police are probing the possible involvement of Dandiwal.
The fake T20 league match was live-streamed by Dream 11 subsidiary Fan Code and Sportskeeda ran a live scorecard of the match.
Dandiwal was also a suspect in a fixing racket in Victoria, Australia, and features on the suspect watch list of the BCCI as well. He was recently named as the “central figure” in an alleged tennis match-fixing scandal related to at least two lower-level tournaments in Egypt and Brazil.
On Saturday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Victoria Police have named Ravinder Dandiwal as the “central figure” in the fixing scam where operatives convinced low-ranked tennis players to throw matches while associates placed bets with bookies.
On social media, his profiles list him as “Dandiwal a.k.a. RS Dandiwal”, “General Secretary of the Cricket Council of India”, “Chairman of the Cricket Premier League”, and “Managing Director” of Ultimate Sports Management.
The logo of the Cricket Council of India resembles that of the BCCI, with the shape of its outer edges and the organization’s name among the few visible differences.
A known name in Chandigarh cricketing circles, he is known to have organized various private cricket tournaments despite no recognition from the BCCI and has been involved in T20 leagues abroad.
(indianexpress.com inputs)
