Cricket: Court to proceed on match-fixing

A MAGISTRATE in India yesterday gave the green light to a court action ­accusing the late South African cricketer Hansie Cronje and ­several bookmakers of ­conspiring to fix matches.

The case was accepted a day after police filed a 93-page charge sheet relating to 13-year-old allegations of match-fixing, according to news agency the Press Trust of India.

The court, however, suspended the proceedings against ­Cronje, the former South ­Africa captain, because he died in a plane crash in 2002.

The police charges accuse the men of conspiring to fix matches between South Africa and India in India in March 2000. India won the series 3-2.

The charges accuse Cronje of taking 12 million rupees [£130,000] for fixing matches. Cronje’s team-mates, Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje, who have also been accused of fixing matches, were not named on the charge sheet.

Others accused of the crime include Sanjeev Chawla, Rajesh Kalra, Sunil Dara, Manmohan Khattar, and Kishan Kumar of cheating and criminal ­conspiracy. They are also accused of being bookies.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal issued summonses for October for Kalra, Kumar and Dara.

Chawla is believed to be in Britain and Khattar in the ­United States and police said they would begin pushing for their extradition.

In May, police arrested three Indian cricketers over allegations of spot-fixing during the Indian Premier League.