IPL Match-Fixing Sting: CSK Playing XIs Leaked to London Bookies

⏱ 3 min read

A hidden-camera investigation by Tehelka's Special Investigation Team, conducted between December 2025 and August 2026, has produced on-camera admissions from former Ranji Trophy cricketer Rachit Bhatia that he leaked Chennai Super Kings' playing XIs to London-based bookmakers via Snapchat before five IPL 2025 matches, allegedly earning ₹60 lakh per match — a total of ₹3 crore. The franchise called an emergency board meeting for 25 September 2026, and the BCCI has expanded its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit monitoring to all state T20 leagues for the first time.

The allegations, published 19 September 2026, arrived days after Punjab Police announced they had frozen ₹42.3 lakh in the bank accounts of four accused in a separate IPL betting racket linked to a Dubai-based kingpin, and one week after the CBI arrested Mahadev Betting App co-kingpin Abhishek Kumar at Hyderabad airport on return from Dubai in a case with estimated criminal proceeds of ₹94,000 crore. India's integrity crisis across cricket and online gaming has rarely looked so concentrated in a single week.

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The Tehelka Sting: What Bhatia Said on Camera

Tehelka's undercover reporters posed as bookmakers and made contact with Rachit Bhatia, 28, a former Nagaland Ranji Trophy cricketer who now works as a selector and coach for Delhi school cricket teams. In the recordings, Bhatia stated: "I fixed five matches during the 2025 Indian Premier League by passing inside information about the Chennai Super Kings to bookies in London via Snapchat."

Bhatia named Vansh Bedi, a 23-year-old CSK wicketkeeper-batter purchased at the IPL 2025 auction for ₹55 lakh, as his alleged inside source. The information passed was CSK's playing XI before the toss — a form of "line-up leak" that violates ICC Anti-Corruption Code Articles 2.3.1 and 2.3.2. Communication used emoji-coded sequences to avoid naming players outright, with cash payments made in Delhi within 1–1.5 hours of each information transfer.

Bhatia also claimed spot-fixing involvement in the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (two deliberate wides at ₹8 lakh each) and alleged a ₹15 lakh bribe for Nagaland Ranji squad selection. He proposed future rates of ₹1 crore per IPL match for spot-fixing and ₹40 lakh per Delhi Premier League match for playing XI leaks — with the DPL leak corroborated when the XI he provided on 3 August 2026 matched the official announcement for the Central Delhi Kings vs North Delhi Strikers fixture.

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CSK Board Meeting and Player Denials

Chennai Super Kings convened an emergency board meeting on 25 September 2026, ahead of the franchise's Annual General Meeting. A senior CSK official stated the board would "discuss the matter," reiterating the franchise's "zero-tolerance policy against corruption." No further formal statement had been issued at time of writing.

Vansh Bedi released a written denial on 22 September 2026, calling the allegations "false and defamatory" and announcing intent to pursue legal action. Bedi had not played in IPL 2025 due to an ankle injury and was replaced before the relevant matches by Urvil Patel — a detail that complicates but does not resolve the underlying allegations.

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BCCI Anti-Corruption Response

In August 2026 — before the Tehelka story broke — the BCCI Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) quietly extended its monitoring beyond international cricket and the IPL to cover all state T20 leagues, a first in the board's history. Within weeks of the rollout, six players were caught with smartphones in restricted areas across state leagues; a Tamil Nadu Premier League player was fined ₹1 lakh and banned after a phone was found in a dressing room.

Allegation / Incident	Date	Amount / Scale	Status
Tehelka IPL 2025 playing XI leaks (5 CSK matches)	IPL 2025 season; reported Sep 19, 2026	₹3 crore total (₹60L/match)	CSK board met Sep 25; no charges filed
DPL 2026 XI leak (Aug 3 fixture)	3 August 2026	₹40 lakh per match proposed	XI corroborated; under investigation
Punjab IPL betting racket (Khanna network)	Arrested Apr 12, 2026; reported Sep 2026	₹42.3 lakh frozen; Dubai kingpin named	ED involvement planned; 4 arrested
Mahadev Betting App — Abhishek Kumar arrested	24 September 2026	₹94,000 crore estimated proceeds	2-day police custody; 100 accused total

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Punjab Betting Racket and the Dubai Link

Punjab Police (Khanna district) froze ₹42.3 lakh in accounts belonging to Dinesh Chhabra, Karan Chhabra, Mahinder Singh, and Naresh Kumar — all from Khanna — after a raid in which 11 mobile phones and one laptop were seized. A fifth accused, Rajiv Kumar, suspected to be operating from Dubai, has been booked separately. Charges include Section 112 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (petty organised crime), which carries up to seven years' imprisonment. The Enforcement Directorate has been flagged for broader financial investigation.

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What This Means for Bettors

Playing XI information is among the most commercially valuable pre-match data in cricket betting markets. When that information originates from inside a dressing room and flows to offshore bookmakers before the toss, odds on team composition and early wickets are effectively manipulated. Bettors placing in-play or pre-match markets on CSK fixtures during IPL 2025 — or DPL matches in August 2026 — may have done so on terms shaped by insider leaks without any means of knowing it. The BCCI's ACSU expansion signals the board has internally acknowledged the state-league exposure, but the Tehelka footage, if authenticated by investigators, represents the first direct on-camera corroboration of a functioning IPL XI-leak network in the modern format of the tournament.

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Sources

Primary and secondary sources used in this report, in order of relevance.

I fixed five matches during the 2025 Indian Premier League by passing inside information about the Chennai Super Kings to bookies in London via Snapchat.

— Rachit Bhatia, former Ranji Trophy cricketer · Tehelka hidden-camera investigation, published September 19, 2026