IPL Scam: How A Lucknow-Based Cricketer Duped In Lakhs On Pretext Of Selection

The victim in his complaint with the Gautam Palli police said that the accused first lured him with an offer to give him a break to play in the IPL and demanded Rs 17 lakhs.

Lucknow: A Lucknow-based cricket player was duped of Rs 5 Lakh on pretext of helping him get a break in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The victim, identified as Abhishek Singh, who passed out from a sports college in Lucknow, said in his FIR that he met one (accused) Krishna Kumar Jha during a practice match at KD Singh Babu stadium in 2019.

The victim in his complaint with the Gautam Palli police said that the accused first lured him with an offer to give him a break to play in the IPL and demanded Rs 17 lakhs. When he expressed his inability to pay such a hefty amount the accused then trapped him into another deal of Rs 5 Lakh to play for a state and then make it to IPL.

“Somehow, I managed to take the money from my parents, and then made the payments through cheques. I was made to wait and I even camped as an extra in Arunachal Pradesh for days but did not get a chance to play in the team which is an essential requirement for playing IPL.”

Later, when the victim saw no chance of getting to play, he demanded his money back at which he was threatened with dire consequences.

Additional DCP, Police Headquarters, Akhilesh Singh, said that the FIR has been registered against the accused and a probe is underway.

“We have roped in cyber cell to trace the accused,” he added.

Earlier in 2020, a group of farm labourers of Gujarat’s Mehsana almost pulled off a sensational scam over Russian punters after enacting Indian Premier League (IPL) players and luring the punters for placing bets. The police busted the gang conducting the fake T20 cricket tournament and arrested four people.

Davda, in order to create an impression of an IPL rip off, prepared a cricket ground on a rented agricultural field and hired around 20 farm labourers and local youth to play the game wearing jerseys of teams like Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans.

A Mehsana Special Operations Group (SOG) team, upon receiving a tip-off about a cricket betting racket involving Russians, raided a cricket ground on the outskirts of Molipur village on July 7.