Police suspect the involvement of multiple international match-fixing syndicates in the Kolkata Premier League.
Investigators have identified the alleged engagement of at least one Chinese national, who is said to have been crucial in the match-fixing. He reportedly outsmarted the fixing operation allegedly run by local operators in their own game.
The alleged local operators include a club’s team manager, Akash Das, and media manager Rahul Saha. Both Das and Saha have been arrested.
Police surveillance of the Indian match-fixing racket identified an unknown syndicate head repeatedly referred to by local operators as
“Boss”.
Das, the team manager of Kidderpore Sporting Club, and Saha, the club’s media manager, were arrested on Sunday for their alleged roles in fixing matches in the top tier of the Calcutta Football League.
Police found that several clubs were involved in the match-fixing operation, sources said.
The role of the unidentified Chinese national was under the scanner, sources in the police said.
Investigators said his alleged involvement in match-fixing turned the tables on the other betting syndicate run by local operatives like Das and Saha. The outcome of at least one such match, which had already been allegedly fixed by the syndicate with local operatives, was reversed because of the involvement of this other person, a police officer said.
“This means apart from this match-fixing syndicate of which Das and Saha were members, there was this Chinese person who had full influence on the outcome of a match and could reverse the result even if that meant losses for the other match-fixing syndicate,” said a senior investigator.
This also indicated that match-fixing and betting syndicates were operating through digital and transnational channels, the police said.
Match-fixing involves bribing players and officials to predetermine a match result, allowing linked betting syndicates to guarantee massive profits with prior knowledge of the outcome.
“Some of the teams and some players are under the scanner,” a senior police officer said.