New Delhi: Discarded Indian pacer S Sreesanth has made a shocking revelation where he has claimed that the Delhi police treated him like a terrorist after taking him into custody for his alleged involvement in the 2013 IPLspot-fixing case.
Sreesanth, along with two other Rajasthan Royals cricketers – Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested by the police in May 2013. Police sources said Sreesanth was drunk at the time of his arrest and he mistakenly thought he was being detained for drunkenness.
In a podcast with Dennis Freedman, the Kerala pacer spilled beans on what had actually happened.
“I was never drunk on that day. I was just coming back from an injury. It was just a made up story by the police. They did not even have an arrest warrant. So, it was more of a kidnap by the police than anything else. They told me that I was being taken to Delhi for questioning, and they said nothing about betting. They said that they had information about some people and wanted clarification on that. It was not like an official arrest,” he said.
Sreesanth also added that the police took his phone from him and there were 60-70 commandos, as if he was a terrorist.
“I came to know once I landed in Delhi how bad that is. The moment I landed, if I was drunk and out of my senses, I would not have been able to understand what was happening. We were not aware because my phone was also taken from me. It was more like being treated like a terrorist. There were about 60-70 commandos. There was also a bullet-proof vehicle for me as well. We were treated like we were international criminals,” he added.
In 2015, a Delhi court exonerated Sreesanth along with two other players in the case registered by Delhi Police which invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Sreesanth also shared his ordeal of being inside the prison with several other criminals.
After 12 days, I was sent to Tihar Jail. I was in a dormitory with 450 criminals inside. I was in jail for 27 days, the experience was horrific. They also said something about money laundering and mentions of Dawood (Ibrahim). They also apparently had a conversation between the two of us as well. There was a voice test as well which I passed. They eventually had nothing against me. I got my bail on the 27th day in Tihar.
Sreesanth, the second Keralite to represent the country, played in 27 Tests taking 87 wickets, and picked up 75 scalps from 53 One-day Internationals and seven wickets from 10 T20 Internationals.
Source: Zee News