IPL Spot Fixing Scandal: Trail Leads To The Top!

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. Let Big Money be defeated this time. Let the investigations not fall short of cleansing Indian Cricket, permanently and irrevocably.