Former Delhi Police Deputy Commissioner Neeraj Kumar made a shocking revelation, said that cricketer Sreesanth was saved due to legal shortcomings.
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New Delhi. Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar has said that stakeholders have shown a clear lack of seriousness in bringing a law against corruption in Indian sports and that is why someone like tainted former fast bowler S Sreesanth has strong allegations of spot-fixing against him in IPL 2013. Survived despite having evidence. Neeraj, an IPS officer who served the country for thirty-seven years, was in-charge of Delhi Police when the Special Cell under his guidance arrested Sreesanth and his fellow Rajasthan Royals cricketers Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan on spot-fixing charges.
The Supreme Court, however, asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reconsider the lifetime ban on the former India player despite ruling in 2019 that there was evidence against him. The sentence was eventually reduced to a seven-year suspension which expired in September 2020. “The matter appears to have gone nowhere… unfortunately, there is no law (in India) to deal with corruption in cricket or corruption in sports in general,” Neeraj said. ‘Even in a country like Zimbabwe there are specific laws.
In Australia, New Zealand it is the law…In Europe, there is the law because corruption is not just in cricket but also in football, tennis, golf.” Neeraj As part of the CBI investigation team in the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal in 2000 Was also associated with. He said the biggest obstacle to prosecuting corruption in sports is the lack of law. “For example, many of the things we do do not stand the test of judicial scrutiny,” he said. If we say that people were cheated during match fixing, now the court will ask, show me one person who has been cheated, produce that person in the court.
Neeraj said, “Who will come to the court and say that I went to watch a cricket match with the expectation of fair play and everyone playing to the best of their ability? Therefore, in the absence of the victim, it becomes very difficult to prove the case.” A law to curb this has been in the works in India since 2013. The Prevention of Sports Corruption Bill (2013) was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2018 and provided for five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10 lakh for those found guilty of sports fraud, including fixing. This bill was drafted by Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal and was considered very important to curb match fixing.
It was to replace the ‘Public Gambling Act 1867′ under which any person involved in betting could only be fined Rs 200 or face three months’ imprisonment. Sreesanth is back in the mainstream and also played Ranji Trophy for Kerala before retiring from first-class cricket. He is now seen in various Legends League and also gives opinions as an expert on various broadcast platforms.
Neeraj, who has written the book ‘A Cop in Cricket’ about his experiences dealing with corruption in the game, is hopeful that the case, which has been reopened in the Delhi High Court, will reach its logical conclusion. Challenged and it is now pending in the Delhi High Court. Initially it did not progress much due to Covid, but now some hearings have taken place and you should not be surprised if the order is overturned because we have a lot of other evidence.” Neeraj said, ”Sreesanth has been sent to the Kerala High Court. He has got relief from the court but he has not said that he is innocent.
Neeraj also feels that the case against former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who was embroiled in the 2000 scam, was ‘not allowed to be completed’. “If the Azharuddin case had been allowed to reach its logical conclusion, some very big names would have been exposed but that too was not allowed,” he said, referring to the names submitted to the apex court by the Justice Mudgal Committee. He said, “There is a lack of seriousness in dealing with corruption in sports, especially cricket. Big names came forward, they were put in a sealed envelope and it is still sealed in the Supreme Court.
Neeraj believes that the government can pass the anti-corruption bill pending in the Parliament. He said, “If we have that law, the scenario will completely change, people will not be able to escape. I don’t know why they are not doing it.” Neeraj also got the opportunity to work as the head of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) for about four years and was instrumental in helping the world’s richest board tackle corruption. Didn’t seem honest. “They were completely indifferent towards corruption cases and did not give me the necessary resources,” he said.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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