‘It is a legal landmark’

The head of Indian cricket's anti-corruption watchdog said on Friday Britain's extradition of accused match-fixer Sanjeev Chawla was "a legal landmark".

Chawla, one of the central figures in the scandal surrounding the late Hansie Cronje, was sent back to India on Thursday after spending four years fighting extradition.

It is the first time India has managed to get an accused individual from the cricket gambling underworld sent back for trial.

Delhi police filed charges against Chawla and five others including former South Africa captain Cronje in 2013.

Chawla is alleged to have conspired with Cronje to fix matches in South Africa's tour of India in 2000.

After his arrival, a Delhi court ordered Chawla to be held in custody for 12 days for questioning. He has challenged the order at the High Court.

"It is a legal landmark," Ajit Singh, chief of the anti-corruption unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told AFP of the latest legal outcome.

"Extradition is a difficult process. All sorts of objections were raised, to the extent of threat to life of the accused and even the conditions of the Indian prisons.

"And this one is the first for match fixing."