The alleged match fixing triggered a protest in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Indian cricket was hit by a new scandal on Thursday after police in Delhi revealed they had arrested three players in the country's fast-paced and glamorous one-day Twenty20 tournament for allegedly fixing games.
The men, all with the Rajasthan Royals team which plays in the IndiaPremier League, have now been suspended by Indian cricketing authorities.
They include Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, the former international bowler.
Police said that seven bookies in Mumbai and three more in Delhi had also been detained.
"We had information that the Mumbai underworld is indulging in match-fixing or spot-fixing and have contacted a number of bookies and some players," Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar told reporters.
"There was an agreement between bookies and players that they would give away a predetermined minimum number of runs in that particular over," he said.
The police said bookies and players used signals to "spot-fix" during matches. The bowlers were asked to concede a particular number of runs in a certain over and would indicate which over that would be to the bookies watching the game from a hotel room live on television. The police said they had evidence of three IPL matches over a 10-day period this month in which the practice had occurred.
India's cricket board (BCCI) immediately suspended Sreesanth and his team-mates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila and promised that stricter punishments if they are found guilty.
"All information required to bring the persons involved to book will be collected and strictest action will be taken, if found guilty," the BCCI secretary, Sanjay Jagdale, said in a statement.
"The BCCI has zero tolerance to corruption. We will offer all co-operation to the Delhi police and all other authorities in their investigations in this matter."
Spot-fixing is the manipulation of individual incidents within a match which may not affect the overall outcome, most famously exposed in a London trial and jailing of three Pakistani players in 2011.
Sreesanth, 30, has played 27 Tests and 53 one-day internationals but injuries and disciplinary issues have kept him out of the India side since late 2011.
Police claim he accepted 4m rupees (£48,000) to concede 13 or more runs in his second over of a 9 May match. Sreesanth tucked a towel in his waistband to signal to a bookie, giving him enough time to "indulge in heavy betting", Kumar said.
"Sreesanth bowled the first over without the towel. In the second over, he put a towel in his trousers and then, in order to give bookies time to indulge in betting, he did some warming up, some stretching exercises, and then went on to give 13 runs," Kumar explained.
Indian cricket – and sport in general – is frequently hit by bribery or corruption scandals. Last year, the BCCI banned one cricketer for life and handed out lesser punishments to four others after allegations of corruption in domestic cricket.
"It is wholly unfortunate that despite such education, best playing conditions and terms of engagement offered, some players seem to be indulging in such activity," Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, said.
Legal gambling in India is confined to horse-racing, while casinos are allowed only in some states. However illegal syndicates continue to thrive and Indian media estimated that £280m was bet on the 2009 IPL Twenty20 competition.
Three Pakistani players were jailed in the UK for their role in a spot-fixing scandal relating to a Test match against England at Lord's in August 2010. The International Cricket Council subsequently banned the three players for a minimum of five years.
For many years Indian police have blamed match-fixing on unidentified figures based overseas, particularly in Pakistan. "There are overseas connections and we've proof that the underworld is involved," said Kumar. "The mastermind is sitting abroad."
Relatives of the accused, contacted by local media, have insisted they are innocent.
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