He had spent yet another sleepless night, this time in New Delhi, having waited nearly three months to get his name cleared from the spot-fixing scandal, says a report in The Indian express, adding that in the end, his 15-minute meeting with BCCI's diciplinary committee went in his favour and the Indian board gave him a clean chit saying, "The case against Harmeet Singh has been closed in the absence of evidence against him."
"These last three months were very tough for me. Everyone I met would look at me suspiciously. I knew I had done no crime. It was hard to explain to every person what had actually happened. Finally the verdict is out and I'm happy that I will play cricket again," Harmeet told The Indian Express.
While the BCCI anti-corruption and security unit chief Ravi Sawani's report had found Harmeet guilty of not informing the board about his meeting with bookies, Harmeet maintains that he had, in fact, informed the BCCI's officials two days after the scandal broke. The disciplinary committee then gave the left-arm spinner a clean chit.
"I informed the board about it right after the matter came out. I was shocked. I didn't know that the men I met were bookies, and I only came to know when this whole issue came out. Even in my written statement to the magistrate I wrote everything I knew," the left-arm spinner said.
According to a report in Pune Mirror, young Harmeet Singh said the verdict of the BCCI’s disciplinary committee has come as a welcome relief and that he is keen to get going with his cricketing career.
“The verdict surely is a relief but the fact is I’ve missed out on some quality competition. I would have played for India A and the under-23 team. Bad luck. I was going through a bad phase in life,” the young left-arm spinner told Mirror.
Harmeet’s stock had been on the rise ever since his stand out performances in the ICC Junior World Cup in Australia last year. The charge against him was that he was found to be flirting with the bookies who were introduced to him by Ajit Chandila.
According to a report in Mid-Day, the news came as a belated birthday gift for Harmeet, who turned 21 on September 7. “It is the happiest day of my life. I am so relieved. I really want to thank my family for their support, and also my lawyers — Ashok Paranjpe and Nilesh Gala. I can’t wait to get back to cricket now,” Harmeet told MiD DAY from the capital.
“I haven’t slept properly ever since my name cropped up in this scandal. I could not sleep because I did not know how to prove my innocence to the world. I am just happy that the nightmare is finally over,” said Harmeet, one of the stars of India’s U-19 World Cup triumph in Australia last year.