IPL Scandal: Bollywood Connection To Bookies, Vindoo Dara Singh Arrested In Mumbai!

The Spot Fixing scandal surrounding the money spinning Indian Premiere League (IPL) is becoming bigger, louder and murkier every passing day. Today, Mumbai Police arrested the son of the legendary wrestler-actor Dara Singh and a Bollywood cum television actor Vindoo Dara Sing for his alleged links with the bookies. Vindoo was supposedly acting as a conduit between the bookies and the cricketers to fix match or sessions or spots in the IPL tournament. Sources reveal that he was earlier questioned by Mumbai Police in this regard. The winner of the television reality show Big Boss-Season 3 hosted by none other than Amitabh Bachchan in 2009, Vindoo Dara Singh was remanded to police custody till the 24^thof May. This is the first official instance of Bollywood link to bookies apart from the big-money franchisee links to the IPL. Also, after Sanjay Dutt it is the second back to back Bollywood instance of spoilt brats putting their great parents to shame.

As a booster for the Delhi Police investigations the remand of the three cricketers including the volatile Sreesanth and 8 other bookies has been extended for five more days. Four accused including a Ranji player were remanded to two weeks police custody. Another Ranji cricketer and three more bookies have been arrested as per the latest updates.

The Supreme Court of India today rapped up the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the irregularities in the IPL and primarily for the Board’s lackadaisical approach to the evil that was present all the time. It ordered the BCCI submit a report within two weeks mentioning involvement of players in the scandal and to restore cricket as the gentleman’s game. The Supreme Court was hearing a public petition seeking a ban on all remaining matches of the IPL. Of course, it dismissed the petition saying that a court cannot decide playing or banning of cricket matches. Meanwhile, Delhi High Court is set to hear another petition on banning IPL tomorrow. On a positive note the Indian Law Minister Kapil Sibal met the Sports Minister again this evening for a new law on match fixing in any sport.

As if enough is not enough, the Sahara Group pulled out of the IPL today, finally ending a cricket sponsorship saga of more than eleven years. The dispute between BCCI and Sahara was going on since last year when the latter threatened to pull out due to financial issues, but a truce was ushered in urgently. Accordingly, Sahara readied the Pune Warriors team for IPL-6. However, the team did miserably and finished as second last. Sahara Group could not pay up the franchisee fee to BCCI in time and therefore the BCCI decided to encash the bank guarantee. Blaming BCCI for this unilateral act Sahara pulled out just when the Vindoo Dara Singh arrest was creating ripples throughout.

The future of Indian cricket never looked so bleak. The decision of the ICC to rally around the BCCI brings up again the power-play of big-money in cricket and delivers another lethal blow to cricket. IPL must be banned or totally redefined to define Cricket.

Mitali: The Trauma of Losing a Sibling

Maybe I lied to her when I used to reassure her that she was going to be alright and was going to resume her life in some measure of normalcy in the future years; maybe all my gestures/expressions were false when I used to run my fingers across her forehead or embrace her on occasions when she was able to move around a bit; and maybe all my exhibitions of love care and responsibility were exposed as superficial when I failed to turn up in Delhi where she along with my mother were treated during September-October, 2022 (my mother Urmila Chakravarty was also diagnosed with dental cancer the same month the same year as she was) and when all the members of my parental family and the in-laws converged. Since that fateful day in August, 2022 when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to that disastrous day of March 6, 2025—the day my younger blood sister Mitali (Mainu) Chakravarty Sarma (November 2, 1963—March 6, 2025) passed away in the wee hours in a hospital in Guwahati after giving a bra...

Release of Book 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories'!

The fourth collection of stories titled 'Randomized: A Dozen Short Stories' by Chinmay Chakravarty has been released on Amazon KDP just now! This collection, short stories in a lighter vein plus with mild satire like the previous collections, has been published in both the E-book and Paperback formats. The links are given below: International: Click Here ! India: Click Here ! Other collections of short stories by the same author: The Cheerless Chauffeur and Other Tales(2021)--Notion Press. Funny and Fishy Tales(2022)--KDP. The Weirdos(2022)--Ukiyoto Publishing. All books of the author are available on Goodreads, apart from Amazon and other outlets! Have a look!

Kolkata: Cancel the Commerce of the Durga Puja Carnival!

Yes! We ask why shouldn't the pure Commerce show of the Durga Puja Carnival in Kolkata be canceled in view of the worsening medical crisis? For how long this cruel irony of continuing the worship of the Mother Goddess and continuing to torture/kill the Mothers in human forms going to continue? Greed, limitless greed of humans! Dear God! This time Goddess Durga came in a cradle which in itself implies ominous times, and further, the tithis from Mahasaptami onward came mixed in such a way that you get three days of worship, technically. Yet, the greedy and selfie-social-media-crazy crowds of 'devotees' were still not satiated, descending on the Puja pandals in uncontrollable hordes for as long as seven days, and to pander to their greed and to have the maximum of business, most of the Puja organizers disregarded the tithi break-up completely and have been celebrating Bijoya Dashami or the Dussehra well into Ekadashi, the eleventh day! They expect the hordes to descend tonigh...