The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the responses of suspended cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, Ankeet Chavan and 33 others who were exonerated by a trial court in the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing case. The High Court called for the trial court records on an appeal filed by the Delhi Police, who had challenged the exoneration ruling, reported PTI. The High Court asked the 36 accused to respond to its notice by December 16.

The trial court had earlier dropped all charges against the accused, saying the investigators had failed to gather "all necessary ingredients to establish a prima facie case" under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The court had ruled that the Delhi Police had been unable to establish any nexus between the accused and the crime syndicate allegedly run by fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his close aide Chhota Shakeel. The Delhi Police has argued that the logic and conclusions put forth for discharging the accused was not correct.

The three cricketers were earlier banned from the game for their alleged involvement in the scandal. Some bookies were also named in the 6,000-page charge sheet, in which the Delhi police had claimed to have unearthed sufficient evidence to prosecute them for offences punishable under section 120B (conspiracy), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, along with crimes relating to the MCOCA.