The IPL Spot
Fixing Scandal has been throwing up more and more sinister skeletons out of all
its cupboards. The putrid journey into the vast and endless terrain of sordid
details of bookie connections, underworld connections, Bollywood connections
and top cricketing involvement is only speeding up. Police interrogation of the
Bollywood actor Vindoo Dara Singh, arrested yesterday for his involvement with
top bookies, reveals that Vindoo was in constant touch with Gurunath, the son-in-law of
the BCCI boss and owner of the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings
(CSK). This leads the racket right up to the top level of BCCI itself.
Interestingly, Vindoo was a close friend of the wife of Mahendra Singh
Dhoni--the Indian Captain and Captain of CSK--as stadium and party photographs
amply demonstrate. This spells big trouble for BCCI and this may also indicate
why the Board was not interested in tough action. You may ask--was that
emergency meet of the Board addressed by the President or the owner of
CSK?
The buck does
not stop here either. Although the Delhi High Court rejected the petition
seeking a ban on IPL saying that the Supreme Court had already ruled in that
issue, the court agreed to hear a revised petition seeking a direction to the
Indian Government to take over control of IPL and segregate BCCI from IPL. The
crucial hearing is scheduled on 23rd August, 2013. Another public petition was
filed in the Madras High Court demanding that Indian Government take over
Indian Cricket management and bar the BCCI from using 'Indian Cricket Team' for
its team. The petition also sought a CBI probe into the spot fixing scam. The
Court heard this petition and issued notices to
the Government of India, BCCI and the IPL Commissioner asking
them to respond within two weeks.
The trail also leads to widespread speculation
about a few names of Bollywood superstars and former top cricketers likely to
come up in due course. The connection of Don Dawood Ibrahim of the D-Company in
cricket match or session or spot fixing has already been established thanks to
statements made by his brother Iqbal Kaskar who has been in the custody of
Mumbai Police since 2003. Big money and the clout thus created win always in India
