Kumar was a DGP with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2000 when the agency intercepted a conversation between a blacklisted bookie and then South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje. Inquiries by the CBI, followed by Cronje's confession and testimony, exposed a scandal that shook the nation completely. After the CBI report became public, the BCCI banned former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma for life, while Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar were barred from the game for five years. The scandal engulfed cricket great Kapil Dev too, before he was given a clean chit by the CBI.
Speaking at a seminar titled 'Sixers and Fixers — has the gentleman's game gone to the goons?' at the fest, Kumar said the NDA government "shut" the probe after a point, instructing the CBI to "go no further".
"After we (CBI) had submitted our first report, a whole lot of work needed to be done, but the government then decided...this far and no further, because all kinds of skeletons were tumbling out and cricket is a religion in India," Kumar said, leaving the audience stunned.
Later, speaking exclusively to TOI, Kumar elaborated further. "If you see the CBI report on the net, it says further inquiry will continue. It didn't continue because it would have meant a lot of other dirt would have come to the surface," Kumar said.
The revelation does give one the impression that the scandal may have been even bigger than it turned out to be. Were there more cricket stars who were "protected" by the then powers that be? Kumar's claim may just open a whole can of worms, given that he practically terms the report deliberately "incomplete".
The alleged political interference wasn't a one-off either, going by Kumar's claims. The former police chief said he had received a "request" from "someone" to avoid quizzing a few bookies in Mumbai while the Delhi Police was unearthing the fixing scandal this summer. "It was small request. It wasn't forced upon us," he recalled.
Kumar felt that this "government order" was a mistake. "I'll be very honest. I don't know what exactly went on in the minds of people who took that decision, but it should have continued. Unless we come to know what is wrong with us, we cannot go about correcting our mistakes."
Batting for a strong anti-fixing law, he said, "A strong anti-fixing law will act as a deterrent. It should be a penal law. The fixers and those who get 'fixed' should both be sent to jail," he said. Even in the case of the IPL 6 spot fixing scandal, he said, the BCCI could have done more than just ban S Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila for life. "Is banning three cricketers the end of the matter? Isn't there a need to look further? Could there be an in-house investigation, brain-storming which ensures that it doesn't happen again, and the IPL too gets its credibility back? Is it happening? It is not."
Kumar said he was "surprised" and "saddened" after a meeting with Sreesanth when the fast bowler was in jail. "He appeared to be a devoted, enthusiastic cricketer. He kept saying he wanted to play for India... but the fact of the matter is he committed a fatal mistake, and there is no going back," he said.
He said that though the Delhi Police had enough evidence to nail the three cricketers, the case may suffer due to delay. "If the evidence we have is properly pursued in a court of law, it may end in conviction. However, sometimes, trials go on and on... new police officers come and they aren't that keen that the investigation is done properly. The nature of our criminal justice system is also such that it can be time-consuming," he said.
He also called upon the cricket authorities to be "more serious if they want to clean up" the system. "It is part of our overall psyche. Our general thinking is that strong enforcement is best avoided."
Those implicated in the fixing scandal back in 2000 aren't doing that badly in life, he pointed out. Azharuddin is a Congress MP from Moradabad while Jadeja is leading Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. "It is a clear reflection of our society. We have a tolerant, forgiving attitude," Kumar said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment