BENGALURU: The ongoing investigations into the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) match-fixing and spot-fixing racket have revealed that foreign players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) had honeytrapped KPL cricketers in Dubai and Mauritius.

The list of suspects includes a top pace bowler from a neighbouring country, investigators said. Senior police officers said they would soon contact the Board of Control for Cricket in India and seek its cooperation to question IPL players under the scanner.

“BCCI has a vigilance team of its own and we want to know whether the team was aware of a few unnatural developments during important matches in the past two KPL seasons,” a senior police officer said.

“We use the word unnatural because some players suddenly performed way below expectations,” he said. “The players have to provide explanations for their actions. We have arrested players and a team owner for their role in match-fixing and betting.”

‘IPL players took them abroad for shopping’

According to highly placed sources, at the behest of bookies, a few IPL players took some KPL players for “shopping and entertainment” to Dubai and Mauritius, where they had set honeytraps for the cricketers.

“Among the KPL players who were honeytrapped and blackmailed, some refused to budge to the bookies’ demands,” a source said.

“I cannot reveal everything at this stage since investigation is in progress,” Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said.

“But I can confirm that some KPL players were taken to places like Dubai and Mauritius. They were given expensive gifts. Then they were honeytrapped. If any player who was blackmailed in this manner approaches police, we will keep their names and other details confidential,” Rao said.

He said a CCB team will study the scorecards of important KPL matches. “We will analyse the performance data of each player and compare it with their earlier performances,” Rao said.

The Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru police had on Tuesday issued notices to Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and team managers.

The CCB has since July arrested eight people in connection with the KPL match-fixing and betting scandal, including Ali Asfak Thara, the owner of Belagavi Panthers, in September.

