They were the beneficiaries of the 'thrown' overs from three Indian bowlers, who took hundreds of thousands of dollars from blackmarket bookmakers to concede large numbers of runs from pre-determined overs.

Three Indian players, including former Test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, were arrested Thursday, and charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy, for rigging their performances for the Rajasthan Royals in matches this month in the IPL.

Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said investigators had hard evidence — uncovered during hundreds of hours of phone intercepts and backed up by actions on the field — of spot fixing in three matches, where bets are made on individual overs or the performances of individual players, rather than the result of a match.

The spot-fixing involved the three players, Sreesanth, Anjit Chandila, and Ankeet Chavan, conceding an agreed amount of runs in a specified over. The runs and the over would be worked out in phone conversations or by phone messages, which were being covertly recorded by police.

On-field, the players would signal to the bookies they were about to 'throw' the over with a pre-arranged signal. Bookies would lay bets against the runs being scored.

After the three players were arrested and brought to Delhi to face court, police revealed in careful detail the spot-fixing scandal.

In the first match, against Pune Warriors, bowler Anjit Chandila conceded, as arranged, 14 runs in his second over.

He had already taken two million Rupees, $37,000 AUD, from bookmakers, on the promise of another two million if he fulfilled his obligation. The agreed signal was that Chandila would untuck his shirt and look skywards before the first ball of the over.

Australian batsman Aaron Finch faced the first and final balls of the other, taking a single and four from them. Robin Uthappa took nine from the other four balls.

"However, he (Chandila) forgot to give the predetermined signal," Police Commissioner Kumar said. "As a result of which, the bookies, couldn't bet. This led to demands for refunds off Chandila."

In the second fix, on May 9, Sreesanth agreed he would concede 13 runs in his second over against Kings XI Punjab. Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh were the batsman.

Having conceded only five runs in his first over, Sreesanth gave the pre-determined signal to the bookmakers.

"In this match it was decided that Sreesanth would put a towel in his trousers before the start of his second over, [giving] the bookies enough time for heavy betting.

"He asked for a towel before the second over. He went into warm-ups and stretching after that. And conceded 13."

Sreesanth was hit for three fours and a single in the over, including a boundary off the final ball when he appeared to pull his hand away from a well-struck Gilchrist shot back down the pitch.

In the final fixed match, played on Wednesday, Ajit Chandila acted as the go-between between bookies and Ankeet Chavan. Chandila carried six million Rupees — $110,000 AUD — for the off-spinner if he could concede at least 13 runs in his second over.

Having gone for only two in the first over of his spell, Chavan's second was dramatically more expensive. In the first three balls, Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell hit him for six, two and six.

Having conceded 14 from the first three balls, the rest of the over was tighter, conceding only one.

Commissioner Kumar said the three players arrested are the only ones under suspicion for spot-fixing. No Australian, or other international, players have been implicated.

More arrests will be made, he said, but they will be of bookmakers.

Ten bookies have already been caught, in Mumbai and Delhi, but the players were discovered almost by accident.

"We hadn't even started investigating spot-fixing, we were pursuing some other cases and came across evidence... [the] Mumbai underworld is indulging in match-fixing or spot-fixing," Commissioner Kumar said.

"The names of these three players came to light, we waited for the situation when all three of them could be pinned down."

The players appeared in Saket court in South Delhi last night. Police were set to seek their custody.

The families of all three players have protested their innocence.

Sreesanth's father said it was a conspiracy from Indian captain MS Dhoni, and spinner Harbhajan Singh (who has a difficult relationship with Sreesanth), to keep him out of the national team.

"They are trying to ruin my son. Dhoni is trying to take revenge against him."

Police rejected allegations other players were involved in setting up the arrested cricketers.

"It is totally wrong. MS Dhoni did not put the towel in his trousers."