Akash Pachlodia, an Indian national and former manager of the Punjab Royal team, has been fined Rs. 11 million and sentenced to two years of hard labor suspended for 10 years following his involvement in match-fixing during the Legends Cup 2024 cricket tournament in Sri Lanka.
Pachlodia, who managed the Punjab Royal team during the tournament held in Pallekale in March 2024, pleaded guilty to attempting to fix matches. The Kandy High Court delivered the verdict today, imposing the fine and the suspended prison term.
The match-fixing allegations surfaced after a retired Sri Lankan cricketer and a New Zealand cricketer reported that Indian cricket manager Yoni Patel and his assistant, Akash Pachlodia, had approached them with offers to manipulate the outcomes of matches.
Initially, Yoni Patel, the owner of the Kandy Samp Army team, was accused of match-fixing, leading to an investigation into the incident.
Sri Lanka, having introduced stringent match-fixing laws in 2019 under then-Sports Minister Harin Fernando, is the first South Asian country to criminalize various match-fixing offenses. This case marks the first prosecution under the new regulations, which stipulate a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of $555,000 for those found guilty of such offenses.
