NEW DELHI: The BCCI has made it clear that they are keeping an eye on Ravinder Dandiwal, an Indian identified by the Australian police as the alleged kingpin of a major international tennis match-fixing syndicate.
Ajit Singh, head of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), confirmed Monday that Dandiwal, who comes from Mohali, Chandigarh, is a person of interest.
“Well, he’s one of the prospects. He’s gotten some attention from the anti-corruption department,” Singh told IANS.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that Victoria Dandiwal police have named “a key figure” in the repair fraud.
However, Singh said that BCCI cannot take direct action against him because he is not a “participant”. “In the ACU, we can only act against participants.”
Dandiwal is known in the Chandigarh cricket team and has reportedly organized private leagues that have not been recognized by the BCCI.
Singh announced that Dandiwal wanted to keep a league in India two to three years ago that could disrupt the BCCI ACU.
“He focuses more on overseas than India,” said Singh.
“He was associated with the Afghan Premier League two years ago, but that is not our area of responsibility. Reportedly, he was also in a league in Nepal two to three years ago. His name has surfaced while trying to organize leagues . ” somewhere in Bangkok sometime.
“But even though he’s outside of BCCI ACU’s jurisdiction, he’s corrupt, so we have to keep an eye on when he’s trying to contact someone from our players, which luckily didn’t happen.”
“Nothing can be done in India because nothing is known here. It is somewhere in Australia or Egypt, so no jurisdiction is being enforced by the Indian police,” he added.
The SMH has also reported that Indian residents of Melbourne, Rajesh Kumar and Harsimrat Singh, appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week for allegedly attempting to illegally win up to $ 320,000 in fixed games .
Victoria police have accused the two of “corrupting” at least two tennis tournaments in Brazil and Egypt in 2018, the report said.
Singh commented on the duo as follows: “Rajesh Kumar and Harsimrat Singh are based in Australia. The Australian police are taking action against them. So there is nothing more that can be done. Another agency cannot do anything under similar charges. Likewise, if this guy ( Dandiwal) is involved, the Australian police have jurisdiction to act against him. “
Singh explained the role of the BCCI ACU: “We are not a police force, we are an anti-corruption agency that ensures that the BCCI anti-corruption code is followed by participants in BCCI tournaments. Ground staff, officials and team managers, support staff, so if they did something wrong, we can take action against them.
“But if someone is not a participant, we can only keep an eye on him and his activities. We can only ensure that our participants remain isolated from him,” he added.
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