T'wood link to IPL scam?

Mumbai police on Monday grilled a casting director who sent photographs of models to S Sreesanth and has summoned a Telugu film producer having business links with the tainted India pacer for questioning in connection with its probe into the IPL spot-fixing scandal. "In a day or two, the producer will be questioned," a police officer said.

Sources in the Crime Branch, which is investigating the case, said Sreesanth's e-mail account had dozens of photographs of models sent by a casting director over the past few months on request. In some of those, he was found "moving very closely" with the models, they said, adding the cricketer's laptop also had photographs of some foreigners, who could be cheerleaders. "The director claimed that Sreesanth wanted the photographs of the models for the purpose of selecting them for advertisements to promote his company S36, which is into supplying mineral water, apparels and sportsgoods," a Crime Branch officer told PTI.

He said a person from Tamarind Tours and Travels through which the cricketer booked two rooms in 5 star Sofitel hotel in suburban Bandra was also questioned. It was a day of swift developments and each comes as a body-blow to cricketer S Sreesanth, who remains in police custody, since being arrested along with two other teammates from Rajasthan Royals on charges of spot-fixing in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

Royals files FIR, end contracts After filing an FIR, the beleaguered team management terminated the contract of all three of them with immediate effect. "Based on the information provided by the authorities, the contracts of all three players have been suspended pending enquiry. We have already filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against all three players earlier today," Rajasthan Royals chairman Ranjit Barthakur said referring to S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan. In a significant development, and putting to rest media speculations, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar made it evidently clear that there was no pressure from any quarters to go soft on the trio. But there is something to cheer for Sreesanth.

Two enterprising filmmakers Shaji Kailas and A K Sajan are planning to make a film in Malayalam that revolves around the cricketer's dramatic rise and fall. They contend that this would be a message-oriented film that cautions youngsters against falling prey to money and greed. Needless to say, the agonies of Sreesanth are piling up by the hour.A Meanwhile, a cricket fan from Chennai filed a complaint with the city police seeking action against three Rajasthan Royal players, arrested by Delhi police on charges of spot-fixing.