New Delhi, June 4: The Delhi Police has invoked provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act or MCOCA against Test cricketer Shanthakumaram Sreesanth and 26 others arrested in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing case and told a trial court today that there is now evidence to prove the involvement of organised crime syndicates.

Sreesanth and other accused will stay in jail till June 18. They have put in a fresh application for bail since their plea was considered infractuous by the court. The court is, however, yet to decide on whether to charge them under MCOCA and begin trial. If they are charged under the stringent law, getting bail will become even more difficult.

Police sources allege that investigators have established direct links between some bookies arrested in the case and the Mumbai underworld and their bosses abroad, including don Dawood Ibrahim's men like Chhota Shakeel.

The police have also charged 25 other people named in the case, but allegedly on the run, under MCOCA, a controversial Act enacted by the Maharashtra government in 1994. It is invoked in cases where the involvement of organised crime syndicates is suspected. .