Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 12: C M Gautham, a first class player who has played thrice in IPL matches, and who was also the captain of Bellary Tuskers KPL team, and former Karnataka cricket player, Abrar Qazi, were granted conditional bail by the state high court (HC), on Wednesday December 11.

The court also granted anticipatory bail to Aravind Reddy, owner of Bellary Tuskers team, who was apprehending arrest.

After hearing the petitions moved by Gautham and Qazi, the single judge bench of the HC presided over by Justice K N Phaneendra, granted condition bail with the condition that the accused have to furnish bonds of two lac rupees each and two sureties. Another condition is that they should not destroy evidences.

Advocates for the petitioners claimed that Gautham and Qazi had not done anything wrong and that they have been unnecessarily entangled in the case. They said that the allegations made by the police are false and baseless. Therefore they prayed for bail.

The public prosecutor who countered the said arguments, said that the police have put together sufficient evidences and that the CCB investigation is in force and hence pleaded against granting bail. He felt that if they are granted bail, they might influence the course of probe. The court which heard both the sides, granted conditional bail.

It is said that the accused accepted Rs 20 lac as bribe to ensure that the Bellary team players resorted to slow paced batting during the KPL T20 tournament's final match between Bellary Tuskers and Hubballi Tigers. Finally, the Hubballi team had won the match by eight runs. The police claim that the accused were involved with match fixing.