The Bangladesh Cricket Board has requested details about suspected Pakistani bookie Sajid Khan from the detective branch of police after it was instructed to do so
by the International Cricket Council, officials said on Tuesday.
Sajid was picked up after suspicious activity during a Bangladesh Premier League match in February last year and was later handed over to police.
The BCB had not, however, sought any further updates on the case, filed by Mirpur police and later investigated by DB.
The matter came up during the ICC conference in London in the wake of new match-fixing allegations surrounding the money-spinning Twenty20 event, prompting the BCB to take the issue up again.
‘We have to provide the ICC with an update about Sajid Khan soon,’ said Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the acting chief executive officer of the BCB. ‘This is, however, a routine exercise, as we need to keep the ICC updated on many issues from time to time.’
‘So far we know that Sajid Khan is now free on bail and that his trial began this month. We don’t have any other details at present,’ said the BCB official.
Mainul Islam, the investigating officer on the case, told New Age on Tuesday that he had filed the charge sheet against Sajid in May and that the trial began on July 1 in the chief metropolitan magistrate court.
‘We framed a charge against Sajid in May,’ said Mainul. ‘We also sought the help of Interpol about the two other accused, named in the FIR, as we could not identify them properly.’
‘We are still waiting for a reply from Interpol. Once we get their identities we will file a supplementary charge sheet against them,’ he said.
Sajid had named Asif Ali and Wahed Samad as his two accomplices in the gambling operation.
Mainul said that Sajid was present in court during each hearing despite residing in Karachi.
Officials caught Sajid acting suspiciously during a BPL match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on February 26, 2012. They found the bank account information of Pakistani cricketer Nasir Jamshed and the e-mail address of his countryman Rana Naved-ul Hasan in his mobile phone inbox.
Sajid, who came to Bangladesh posing as a cosmetics businessman, later confessed to his involvement in match-fixing before a magistrate under Section 164.
Sajid’s was the first case of match-fixing to be discovered in the BPL. The BCB also caught an Indian citizen called Durga Prasad engaged in suspicious activities during the second edition of BPL this year, though he was
not handed over to police.
The ICC Anti Corruption and Security Unit is now carrying out an investigation after it was alleged that at least two BPL matches of the second edition were fixed.
Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful already confessed his involvement in the scandal.
-With New Age input
