Police in the Bangladeshi capital have arrested a Pakistani man on suspicion of spot-fixing during a key match in the inaugural Twenty20 cricket league, officials said Monday.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials challenged Sajid Khan Sunday as he was frantically making phone calls from the stands during the crucial phases of a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) encounter, the BCB security chief told AFP.
“We have handed him over to police for interrogation,” Mesbahuddin Serniabat said, adding an anti-corruption official from the International Cricket Council had also spoken to the man.
“We have reasons to suspect that he was involved in spot-fixing.”
“On Sunday Khan called after the toss and every time a key wicket fell and a six was hit. He also tried to sneak into the dressing room and some restricted areas where only players and team staff are allowed,” he said.
Serniabat said Khan, 36, was detained during the Chittagong Kings versus Barisal Burners match, which the latter won to seal a place in the semi-finals.
A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to media, told AFP Khan was arrested Sunday night on charges of spot-fixing.
The BPL, the cricket-mad South Asian nation’s first Twenty20 league, opened on February 9 on a sour note after former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza revealed that he had received a spot-fixing proposition.
Mortaza said he had been approached by an unnamed player regarding potential spot-fixing of the Dhaka Gladiators, which he captains.
The latest incident came after three Pakistani Test stars – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Aamer – were jailed in England last year after being found guilty of spot-fixing charges.