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Cricketer arrested before SA match

AFPThe arrest came hours before a Champions League Twenty20 match between Cape Cobras from South Africa and Victorian Bushrangers from Australia was to be played at M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state, said Shankar Bidari, police commissioner.

Pervez Rasool, 21, was in the city for a domestic cricket tournament and his team, Indian Kashmir's under-22's, was staying at the stadium complex. He was taken into custody after police searched his room following an alarm set off by metal detectors suggesting the presence of explosives, Bidari said.

"No explosives were found in his bag. But explosives might have been brought in that bag or might have been transferred elsewhere. There may be some residue in the bag," he said.

"We have sent the bag for chemical examination, Bidari said. The cricketer belongs to the Anantnag district of the Indian portion of Kashmir. "We are checking his background with police there," Bidari said.

India's CNN-IBN television news channel reported that Saturday's match would go ahead, starting one hour late.

Nearly a dozen militant groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.

 

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