I-League: Revealed! Names of seven Minerva Punjab players approached for match-fixing

Match-fixing reared its ugly head once again in Indian Football in the 11th edition of the I-League. GOAL brings you the details...

In the recently concluded campaign the battle between and was not only confined to the football pitch. It took a nasty turn when Ranjit Bajaj, owner of Minerva Punjab, sent an e-mail to the All Football Federation (AIFF) alleging that several of his players were approached for match-fixing.

Subsequently, the AIFF acknowledged of receiving a letter from Bajaj and promised that investigations were in full swing.

"We have received a letter from Minerva Punjab Football Club highlighting approach to their players and officials from other participating teams in the I-League. The case is presently being handled by AIFF Integrity officer (Javed Siraj) who is doing a thorough investigation into the matter and necessary action will be taken as per the regulations,” read the official statement from the Indian FA.

Goal can confirm that seven Minerva Punjab players were contacted by bookies on two different occasions.

Souvik Das and William Opoku Asiedu were the first two players who were contacted by the concerned parties.

“Two of my players came to me with screenshots of match-fixing offers of Rs. 30 lakhs. I reported it to AIFF integrity officer & also Asian Football Confederation (AFC), through their integrity app. I really hope these unscrupulous elements are not successful in getting through to other players and match officials,” tweeted Bajaj in early January.

In the second incident, five more players were contacted in order to influence the result of an I-League match.

The players who were contacted are Abhishek Ambekar, Sukhdev Singh, Kassim Aidara, Rakshit Dagar and Chencho Gyeltshen.

The Modus Operandi of the concerned person remained the same where each of the players were contacted through several social media platforms and messenger services. It has been revealed that the players were promised hefty financial benefits if they could play in a certain way for a limited period of the match.

In another allegation, Bajaj had claimed in March that East Bengal goalkeeping coach Abdul Siddiqui called up Minerva coach Khogen Singh ahead of the match against Chennai City last season to tell him that he had no future with Minerva as they had already zeroed in on Santosh Kashyap for the next season and that East Bengal might go for him if he played his cards right.

Bajaj had also claimed that East Bengal official Alvito D’Cunha called up coach V Soundararajan, team officials and players and 'promised Rs. 10 lakh as a reward if they beat Minerva to help East Bengal’s prospects in the title race.

