IPL 2021: Police arrests two bookies for illegally entering the stadium during RR vs SRH encounter

Two bookies have been arrested by the police and sent to judicial custody for entering Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on May 2, 2021, during Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s encounter. The bookies entered the stadium using forged accreditation cards and have been duly charged under the relevant provision of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Epidemic Disease Act, currently operational owing to the rampant spread of Covid-19 in the nation.

The accused have been identified as Krishan Garg of Swaroop Nagar and Manish Kansal of Jalandhar in Punjab, the Police said. On being interrogated, neither of them was able to give a satisfactory response about their presence in the gallery of the VIP lounge inside the stadium. As a result, they were booked by the police and will be under custody for five days. Further investigations are likely to reveal more information about their background and intentions behind the act.

Confirming the development, the Hindustan Times reported “Two bookies arrested and sent to judicial custody for getting fake accreditation cards & entering Arun Jaitley Stadium illegally on May 2 during IPL match between Rajasthan Royals & SunRisers Hyderabad. FIR registered under relevant sections of IPC and Epidemic Diseases Act.”

IPL 2021 postponed indefinitely 

Notably, the encounter between Royals and Sunrisers eventually turned out to be the penultimate clash of the season as the BCCI and IPL Governing Council in a unanimous decision opted to halt and indefinitely suspend the tournament in the wake of multiple positive cases across camps in different bio-bubbles.

The first positive case in the league emerged when KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were found infected. The development led to Royal Challengers Bangalore to pull out of the match against them owing to the safety of their players. On the same day, three staff members from the Chennai Super Kings camp were found positive for Covid-19, after which they refused to take the field against Rajasthan Royals

Once two more cases in form of Amit Mishra and Wriddhiman Saha came up, the inevitable call was made by the management. BCCI is mulling over conducting the remaining tournament in September this year, although any official confirmation is awaited.