BCCI anti-corruption unit files FIR against duo for approaching women national cricketer with fixing offer

Fixing scandals are not new in men’s cricket. Over the years, the game has been tainted repeatedly but all the suspicious acts have been mainly limited to the men’s arena. But now, the long shadow of fixing scandal has been founding looming over women’s cricket as well. The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has reportedly registered a first information report (FIR) against two individuals in Bengaluru for allegedly approaching a national woman cricketer with a huge monetary offer.

According to a report in Sportstar, the FIR against the two individuals – Rakesh Bafna and Jitender Kothari – was filed at Ashok Nagar Police Station. As per the complaint, Bafna had approached one of the prominent members of India’s national women’s team earlier this year and offered her big money if she joined hands with them. The name of the cricketer was not revealed on request.

The incident dates back to February

The report added that the incident happened in February ahead of India’s limited-overs series against England which was a part of the ICC’s World Championships.

“Today, we have got an FIR registered against two people in Bengaluru. The FIR pertains to an approach that was made to one of the women cricketers of the team. She reported the approach to us and even recorded the conversation she had with one of the accused over the telephone,” BCCI ACU chief Ajit Singh was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Kothari claimed himself to be a sports official and got in touch with the cricketer last year through social media platform Instagram and offered managerial services. He reportedly couriered a copy of the contract to the player but the cricketer could not sign it since she was on the national tour. But she decided not to sign it either.

Kothari contacted the player again and put her through to Bafna saying he had a business offer for her. At that time, the said cricketer was at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru where she was undergoing recovery, the report added.

“Kothari was trying to sell himself as the manager of various women cricketers. It was he who introduced Bafna to the player. He approached her to fix matches and play according to the script,” Singh said.

It has been learned that Bafna offered the player a lakh per match during the India-England series while Bafna, who hails from Odisha, urged the player if the ODI captain of the team could also be roped in for the ‘plan’.