UK tabloid claims Indian bookies offered to sell it details of ‘rigged periods’ of Perth Test
The ongoing Ashes cricket series in Australia was rocked by claims of spot-fixing by a leading UK based tabloid. The sting operation conducted by paper revealed that two Indian bookies, Sobers Joban and Priyank Saxena, are from Delhi and could spot-fix during the third Test at Perth if a deal of Rs 1.2 crore is struck in this regard.
British newspaper The Sun alleged two bookmakers, including an Indian “Mr Big”, had offered to sell it details of rigged periods of play in the Test in Perth which could be bet on to win huge sums.
One of them claimed to have worked on the scam with former and current internationals including a World Cup- winning all-rounder. They said they liaised with a fixer in Australian cricket known as “The Silent Man”.
No Australia or England players were named as being involved.
The Indian pair — secretly filmed at hotels in Dubai and Delhi during the paper’s four-month investigation — claimed corrupt players would signal the fix was on by making a subtle gesture on the field, such as changing their gloves.
According to The Sun, the pair claimed to its undercover team, who were posing as underworld bookmakers — that they could make big money (read millions) from spot-fixing matches of leagues like the Big Bash as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
DNA takes a look at the career of a failed cricketer, Sobers , who is already fighting a case of procuring fake domicile from Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.
It was not long ago when Sobers was looking for a job as a TV journalist. After doing his internship (training) from a leading media house as video editor, the failed cricketer floated his CV to almost all the TV news channels in search of a job.
Son of a Delhi & District Cricket Association’s member (membership No. J000373 as per details available with DNA) Baljeet Joban, Sobers played his initial sub-junior and junior cricket from Himachal Pradesh. He did so after he allegedly managed to obtain a domicile, against which a court case is still going on, before shifting back to Delhi.
Going by the official records of HPCA, Sobers was born on January 21, 1986 in Chamba. However, he never stayed in Himachal Pradesh and completed his education in Delhi.
His father was close to HPCA officials, first under SC Nayyar and then Anurag Thakur’s tenure, and managed to get his son (right-handed batsman cum leg-break bowler) a berth in Himachal Pradesh’s various teams.
For the record, Baljeet runs a LB Shastri Coaching Centre team in Delhi and has been a known figure in DDCA. There has hardly been any season in last decade and half that Baljeet has not been sent as manager of one team or the other by DDCA.
Baljeet’s first got prominence when he managed to get close to late titular Maharaja of Gwalior Madhavrao Scindia after he became BCCI chief. Even after Scindia’s death, he has been managing cricketing activities related to the royal family, including an annual tournament in the memory of late Scindia.
Sobers, after leaving Himachal Pradesh, managed to get entry into Delhi’s U-22 team in 2007-08 due to his father’s good connection with a powerful DDCA official. It was only after he failed to get into the playing eleven of Delhi team that he finally decided to concentrate on career outside cricket.
People who know Sobers well talk of how he often boasts about having played alongside current Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
The Sun claimed that Joban told them he had been arranging fixes along with Saxena for a decade. And, reportedly, Joban has a house in swanky Vasant Vihar area of Delhi and is engaged to a Russian martial arts expert.
The other person in sting is another Delhiite Priyank is apparently a businessman who also has interests in South Africa.
Saxena is reportedly the main brain behind the whole fixing operation and carries it out with the help of corrupt cricketers. The big question now is how this failed cricketer, who didn’t get any decent job in media sector, has reached a stage where he can claim to have control over big ticket series such as Ashes and Big Bash League.
—(With Agency inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Ashes")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}