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New Delhi: Sreesanth and the two other arrested Rajasthan Royal(RR) players have "confessed" to spot- fixing in IPL matches, the Delhi Police claimed today even as the role of more players whose names have cropped up during interrogation could be probed.
Six bookies were held in Tamil Nadu in connection with another IPL betting racket and one each picked up in Mumbai and Delhi. 11 bookies were arrested earlier along with cricketers Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila.
Lending credence to reports that they may have been lured or sucked into a honey-trap, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said Indian pacer Sreesanth and his friend Jiju were with women when they were arrested.
"Yes", replied Kumar on being asked whether the three cricketers have confessed to spot-fixing. "They had no option but to do so," he said, adding, "There is solid evidence against them and we are confident of getting their convictions," he said.
Lawyers of the three cricketers denied their involvement and claimed that they were falsely implicated as part of a deep-rooted conspiracy.
The role of more players whose names cropped up during interrogation of the arrested cricketers and bookies in the IPL spot-fixing scandal could be probed, police said.
Delhi Police is also likely to probe some more IPL matches in the current season even as Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila along with 11 other arrested bookies were subjected to interrogation by its Special Cell.
It has also emerged that the arrested bookies tried to lure three players, including two foreigners, with the help of Chandila, to be part of the spot-fixing racket. The players -- Brad Hogg, Kevin Cooper and Siddharth Trivedi --, however, spurned their invite to join a party at Jaipur for clinching the deal, the sources said.
Sources said Sreeshant, Chavan and Amit Singh, a cricketer-turned-bookie, broke into tears when they were being grilled by the police sleuths.
From the investigations so far since the arrests yesterday, Chandila is emerging as the main accused among the three cricketers while Chandresh Patel is believed to be the key link among the bookies.
