Former Himachal Pradesh woman cricketer arrested for duping aspiring player

Cricket is deemed as a religion in India. Promising aspirants, who want to play the game and make a career for themselves, toil hard day and day out to turn their dreams into a reality. While only few go on to make an impact at the highest level and the others shine at the domestic level, there are many who never clicked and a few who get a chance very late in their lives.

There have been several stories of aspiring players, who are determined to make a mark, being scammed by the fraudsters who trick them by assuring that they will have a bright future after accepting a huge amount of money in return. As per the latest developements, an aspiring cricketer from Surat named Bhavik Patel has been duped of INR 27 lakh by a multi-state gang.

Former HP woman cricketer dupes an aspirant player from Surat

As per reports in The Times of India, Patel was conned by a former Himachal Pradesh woman cricketer Sapna Kumari Randhawa, who was arrested on Wednesday by the economic offence cell of Surat Police following a complained filed by Patel against the latter. At the same time, it has also been learnt that apart from Randhawa, a complaint has also been lodged against an official of a state association.

The 29-year-old Bhavik Patel’s complaint states that Randhawa took INR 14.50 lakh from him while a sum of INR 12.50 lakh was taken by her aid Vishal.  Patel, who had started coaching at the Lalbhai Cricket Academy wanted to play Ranji Trophy and in 2018, was a member of a Surat team that had participated in a competition in Uttar Pradesh. At that time, one of the organizers of that tournament named Ram Chauhan assured Bhavik Patel that he can play Ranji Trophy provided he is ready to spend money to make it happen.

The report further adds that the Navsari-based Patel was interested after which Chauhan had arranged a meeting with Randhawa in Jalandhar in 2018 for making fake documents and the deal was finalized. While Bhavik Patel never made it to Ranji Trophy, he did get an opportunity to make a solitary appearance in a domestic cricket tournament. Randhawa’s aid Vishal managed to get him in Nagaland team and the former featured for them in a T20 game which was against Jharkhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in February 2019.