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 24th
of 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.
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