UK court clears extradition of cricket bookie Sanjeev Chawla: Reports

A UK court on Monday cleared the extradition of cricket bookie Sanjeev Chawla to face charges of match-fixing during South Africa’s tour of India in 2000, according to reports. District Judge Rebecca Crane had discharged the accused after the magistrates’ court hearing in London in October 2017 on human rights grounds over severe conditions in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where Chawla was to be held on being extradited.

The District Judge had noted in her judgment dated October 16, 2017, that she was satisfied there was a prima facie case against Chawla over his role in the fixing of “cricket matches played between India and South Africa during the tour of the South African Cricket Team to India under the captainship of Hansie Cronje in February-March 2000”.

The High Court had ruled that it is convinced with the assurances provided by the Indian government regarding the safety of prison conditions in New Delhi’s Tihar jail as it quashed the lower court’s order against extraditing the 50-year-old.

In a judgment handed down in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Lord Justice Leggatt and Justice Dingemans had upheld the Indian government’s appeal against that order and directed the District Judge to re-start extradition proceedings against Chawla.