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Police seek more details from BCCI

Indian police have asked the country's cricket board for further details of the South African team over the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal, highly-placed police sources said Tuesday.

Delhi detectives have sought the names and other details of people who accompanied the South Africans during their tour of India from members of the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI), a source said.

"We want to know from the BCCI who accompanied them (South Africans), the name of locations and places of their stay," one source said, as the police widened its investigation into a suspected flourishing illegal network of powerful bookmakers.

Hansie Cronje's South Africa team began its tour of India with a first cricket Test Match on February 24 in Bombay and wrapped up the series on March 19 with a second Test and five one-day matches.

On April 7, Delhi police dropped bombshell allegations that Cronje was part of a match-fixing ring along with three of his team-mates, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom.

The police furnished transcripts of alleged telephone conversations between Cronje and London-based businessman Sanjay Chawla before the last of the five matches in the South Africa-India one-day series.

The police, meanwhile, have widened their investigation into the scandal, saying at least nine alleged bookies may have been involved in match-fixing and betting during the India-South Africa clashes.

Rajesh Kalra, the main suspect, who was arrested a day before the police announcement, meanwhile has been hospitalised after he complained of chest pain following alleged "torture" by federal revenue detectives.

The revenue officials are trying to establish a link between Kalra and London-based Indian businessman Chawla, whose conversation on match-fixing with Cronje have been allegedly taped by the Delhi police.

Jagmohan Dalmia, president of the International Cricket Council, meanwhile, began a closed-door meeting with BCCI officials in Calcutta city on Tuesday for an update on the ongoing scandal, officials said.

"There shall be an official briefing later in the day on what transpired at the meeting," one official said at the meeting venue.

The ICC on Monday announced an emergency meeting of the executive board of the world's governing body at Lord's on May 2-3 to discuss growing allegations of match-fixing.

Another suspected Indian bookmaker, Kishan Kumar, has been arrested on charges he was one of the conduits between Kalra and Chawla. Kumar, a former film actor, too is in hospital with suspected heart problems.

The United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) sacked Cronje saying he had admitted accepting up to 15,000 dollars but only for providing information and forecasts on matches.

Cronje later said he had held talks with contacts but had not received any financial rewards. The former skipper refuted all charges relating to match-fixing.

In Johannesburg the UCB announced a judicial inquiry into the allegations will be launched on Monday.