Twenty years after his name came up in the match-fixing scandal that changed cricket forever, alleged bookie Sanjeev Chawla who is one of the main accused in the 2000 fixing case involving the South African cricket team, has been extradited from the UK. A team of police officers from the Delhi crime branch reached London on Monday and brought him back to India on Thursday morning. The flight carrying Sanjeev Chawla landed in Delhi an hour before its scheduled time.
Bookie Sanjeev Chawla brought back to India for Trial
Earlier, the matter came into limelight when Scotland Yard officers conspired to send back bookie Sanjeev Chawla to Delhi police, so as he can face charges of match-fixing in India. The 50-year-old British national, Sanjeev Chawla is alleged to have played a central role in conspiring with Hansie Cronje, the late South African cricket team captain, to fix a South African tour to India in February-March 2000.
According to officials familiar with the extradition proceedings, the final legal paperwork in the case is now being concluded for the handover to take place at Heathrow Airport this week. This is the first successful high profile extradition to India since a treaty was signed with the UK in 1992.
On his arrival, he is expected to undergo the required medical examinations before being taken to Tihar Jail and held in custody in accordance with the Indian government’s assurances to the UK courts.
A Delhi based businessman, Chawla moved to the UK in the mid-1990s on a business visa but kept making frequent trips to India. His name came to Delhi Police’s attention during an investigation into organized crime and his phone was put under surveillance. This is how, in 2000, the police stumbled on to a match-fixing conversation between Chawla and the then South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje. Chawla’s Indian passport was revoked in 2000, and he got a UK passport in 2005.
The case dates back to April 2000 when Delhi Police filed an FIR under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) over alleged match-fixing in Indian cricket, relating to matches on the South Africa tour of India in early 2000. Cronje, teammates Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje were mentioned in the FIR, besides Chawla. The charge sheet was filed only in 2013, in which Chawla is described as “the conduit” between bookies and Cronje. The charge sheet says Cronje was introduced to Chawla by a South African businessman of Indian origin.
A request that Chawla be extradited was made by the Indian government on February 1, 2016. Delhi police said that Chawla had exhausted all options to block the extradition. New Delhi had submitted three sovereign assurances to a UK court about his safety in Tihar jail, where he is set to be lodged. The charge sheet says, “There is sufficient evidence to prove that the accused had entered into a conspiracy to fix cricket matches played between India and South Africa from 16/2/2000 to 20/3/2000.”
