Delhi Court grants bail to bookie Sanjeev Chawla in 2000 match-fixing case

The 2000 match-fixing scandal had rocked the entire cricket scene in the country. It was an incident which even had a global impact. However, 20 years since the shocking case, some of the offenders have not yet suffered their entire punishment.

Sanjeev Chawla, the key accused in the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal, was granted bail by Delhi court on Saturday. A media report stated that Chawla has been granted bail by a special judge. A settlement of INR 2 Lakhs was done on the personal bond ground. He was charged to be the key conspirator behind Cronje fixing the matches during South Africa tour of India in 2000.

The Delhi court has asked Chawla to provide his handwriting and voice sample to the police according to News18. These will be used as a piece of evidence to conduct further tests and verify his involvement in the case. Sanjeev Chawla was granted bail after staying 76 days in the probe.

Chawla had fled to the UK in 2000

After the accusation against Chawla surfaced back in 2000, the man decided to flee to the United Kingdom. His Indian passport was suspended. However, he managed to get his hands on a British passport in 2005. It was finally in 2016 when he was extradited to India from London.

Back in 2000, Delhi Police had traced a call between Hansie Cronje and Chawla. The police discovered through the call that the then South African skipper had accepted money and made deals with the bookies. Cronje was a widely respected captain and a good player in the cricketing circles. Hence, the news had come to everyone like a shock. Cronje initially denied any involvement but later he confessed of being involved in match-fixing.

His teammate, Herschelle Gibbs also came out and said that his captain had offered him $15,000 to underperform in one of the matches during the team’s tour to India. Cronje was eventually handed over a lifetime ban from cricket. Gibbs received a ban for six months.

The case kept going on further as Cronje said that ex-Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin had introduced him to some bookies. He eventually died in 2002 in a plane crash. However, his image was forever tarnished in cricket circles.