DHAKA: Cricketers S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan have been handed a life ban, Amit Singh has been banned for 5 years while Siddharth Trivedi has been banned for 1 year for spot-fixing in the 2013 T20 league by the BCCI disciplinary panel.

The disciplinary panel decided their fate after deliberating on anti corruption chief Ravi Sawani`s report which held them guilty.

The scandal, which broke out in May, had shaken the cash-rich Twenty20 event and led to a massive churning within the Board.

The five players` deposition came even as Sawani`s report was discussed by the BCCI committee, which apart from Srinivasan, comprises board vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.

Sawani has held Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan guilty of conceding a "pre-determined number of runs per over in exchange for bribes."

Trivedi and 21-year-old Harmeet were cleared of the spot-fixing charges, but were found guilty of not reporting the approaches made by bookmakers.

Sawani had recommended bans ranging from five years to lifetime for the players, who even served jail time before being granted bails.

The spot-fixing scandal broke out when Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila were arrested on May 16, along with 11 bookies, and were charged under the Indian Penal Code section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The scandal led to an overhauling of the guidelines for players and owners in the IPL. The BCCI drew up an action plan called `Operation Clean-up` which envisaged a series of measures to curb corruption in the IPL.

Cheerleaders were barred along with the after-match parties for players and support staff. It was also decided to restrict the movement of owners in the players dug-out and dressing room.

Source: hindustantimes
BDST: 1828 HRS, SEP 13, 2013
SR/Jck