Indian national gets four-year prison term in Sri Lanka for Legends League T20 match-fixing
Indian national Yogi Patel was sentenced to four years in Sri Lanka for attempting to fix matches in the 2024 Legends League T20 tournament.
FollowAn Indian national, Yogi Patel, was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment by the High Court in Matale on Tuesday in connection with a 2024 cricket match-fixing case.
Patel was charged following a complaint filed by Upul Tharanga, chairman of Sri Lanka’s selectors, regarding a proposal to manipulate matches in the Legends League T20 tournament, which was played in Kandy.
The court found Patel guilty of attempting to fix matches, a crime under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Sports Related Corruption Act, adopted in 2019. The law stipulates stringent penalties, including jail terms of up to 10 years and fines exceeding USD 550,000.
Patel, who had initially been arrested in March last year, was released on bail in May under strict conditions. However, despite a court-imposed travel ban, he fled the country. His lawyers later claimed that he had absconded due to death threats.
The High Court had previously ordered Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to issue an Interpol warrant for Patel’s arrest.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a fine of Sri Lankan Rupees (SLR) 85 million on Patel and ordered him to pay SLR 2 million to Tharanga as compensation for defamation.
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