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.

IPL Scandal: New Law To Check Match Fixing?

After showing no urgency in the emergency meet yesterday in Chennai the BCCI seemed to have passed the buck over to the affected IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR). Accordingly today the RR has distanced itself from the implicated players and is likely to file an FIR with the police against them. However, more promisingly, the BCCI has sent its officials to Delhi to meet Delhi Police in a supposed effort to get more information on the IPL Spot Fixing case. Yesterday, the BCCI President N Srinivasan had denied having enough information from the police. Meanwhile, Delhi police has arrested a former Ranji cricketer in the domestic circuit and two more bookies. At the moment the CCTV footage seems to hold the key for producing conclusive evidence in the courts.

The Government of India, apparently shaken by this huge scam, is mulling to formulate a separate law to deal with match and spot fixing cases sternly. Indian Law Minister Kapil Sibal met the Sports Minister last night and discussed about the issue. Kapil Sibal said that the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not recognize match or spot fixing as offenses and can deal with them only under Section 420 of the IPC that refers to cheating or frauds. Since this cannot deal with match fixing effectively a separate law is the urgent need of the hour and a new Bill to check match fixing is likely to be presented in the next session of the Indian Parliament, the Law Minister added. Sibal also said that such scams harm public faith in sports and any kind of fixing must be prevented in all disciplines of sports. The Sports Ministry also confirmed that efforts were still on to bring the BCCI under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

Police custody for the three cheats ends tomorrow and there are reports that the Kingpin of fixing, Sreesanth, is set to move for bail. There are also reports that all three cheats have confessed to their crimes and with conclusive evidence forthcoming Delhi Police could appeal for extended custody and denial of bail. Everything must be ensured so that the complete IPL scandal comes to public light and the criminals severely punished. This is a decisive moment to cleanse cricket once for all.

IPL Spot Fixing Scam Gets Bigger And BCCI Does Nothing!

Even as the IPL Spot Fixing Scam got bigger in terms of reach, penetration and implications the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) held an emergency meeting in Chennai today and did absolutely nothing. Perhaps it had taken heart from the widely expressed opinion by cricket experts that bans hardly work as deterrent for the cricketers and therefore desisted from taking any tough action against the three cheats charged by the police with criminal offenses unlike last timewhen a sting operation exposed five players. The Board feigned total ignorance about the police investigations and referred to the three cheats as ‘alleged’ fixers saying that they would take action if the three criminals are proved guilty. Coincidentally, the respective lawyers of the trio vouched for their innocence. The BCCI seemed to have taken full solace in their own inquiry committee appointed for the purpose and reasserted that they would do nothing till its report is received.

In fact, the BCCI President N Srinivasan has been maintaining since the scam surfaced that the BCCI ‘is not a government’ or ‘is not an investigating agency’ or ‘is not a political authority’. And today in Chennai he reiterated the same expressing the Board’s inability to take action against the criminals or the bookies. But why can’t it at least file criminal complaints against the three or more potential fixers? And why can’t it realize what it is fully capable of doing? Like making IPL a genuine cricket tournament; stopping selling and buying of cricketers; maintaining transparency of accounts; getting rid of all glamor quotients like the cheerleaders, the strategic time-out that proved to be a boon for bookies to abet betting, loud orchestration of music and other commercial gimmicks; reducing the number of matches and introducing strict disciplinary rules and accountability for the franchises and the players. The BCCI could do it, but won’t; because it basically wants to rake in the dirty money by attracting hordes of revelers and gullible spectators to throng the stadiums or the television sets at the cost of cricket.

Therefore, the BCCI takes resort to the most ridiculous contention that despite the scam IPL matches are still getting full houses, and that the President of BCCI is indeed grateful for the continuing public support. Well, N Srinivasan should concentrate on counting how many in the crowds turn out to be fans of genuine cricket and how many picnickers. Now, he talks of ‘educating’ the players and constituting anti-corruption committees for each of the franchises. Well, why did he not think of educating in 2008 and what exactly the anti-corruption committee of the BCCI doing? The plain truth is that no moneyed interests vested in T20 Cricket could possibly risk the ‘health and wealth’ of the flourishing cricket bonanza called IPL.

Concerned cricket fans are asking for naming all match fixers as criminals and severe punishment for the guilty.  However, the money-greed-lust madness called IPL would be very difficult to control effectively thanks to the huge vested interests. Particularly in a country like India where a nationwide anti-corruption movement miserably fails even to move the corrupt an inch and where police officers investigating corruption scams get caught receiving bribes! We are left with the only one option. BAN IPL NOW! SAVE CRICKET TOMORROW!