New Delhi,

A Delhi court Wednesday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against three Pakistan-based close associates of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in connection with the IPL spot-fixing case.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma issued open NBWs against Pakistan-based Javed Chutani, Salman alias Master and Ehteysham, considered to be close aides of Dawood.

The court's direction came on an application filed by Special Cell of Delhi Police seeking issuance of warrants against the three, saying they had played a key role in the entire conspiracy. An open NBW is one in which no time limit is fixed for its execution.

The three, suspected to be based in Karachi and Lahore, and were instrumental in the conspiracy behind spot fixing during the IPL matches, police said in the application.

The court in its order said: "The crux of the argument is that it is not possible to execute warrants to these accused in Pakistan. In view of the above, issue open NBWs against three accused as requested."

The judge also issued NBWs against four alleged bookies - Sanjay Aggarwal, Mohd. Shakeel Amir, Praveen Kumar G. Thakkar and Sandeep Sharma for Sep 30 on the plea of police.

The plea of police sought issuance of NBWs against alleged bookies saying that during interrogation of other arrested accused, their names had cropped up but they evading arrest.

On July 30, the Delhi Police filed its chargesheet in the case, alleging that Dawood and his aide Chhota Shakeel, who have been controlling the spot fixing and betting market in cricket in India, were behind the IPL spot fixing scandal.

The formal set of charges, running into 6,000 pages, named cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan among the 39 accused in the scandal related to IPL-6 held earlier this year.

The accused have been charged with offences of cheating and conspiracy under sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Police slapped provisions of the MCOCA against the accused, saying they were acting under the command of Dawood and Shakeel.

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid, players Harmeet Singh and Siddharth Trivedi have been named among 168 witnesses in the case.

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