Sreesanth, Chandila & Chavan Discharged in IPL Spot-fixing Case

How did the Delhi Police lose the plot in the IPL spot-fixing case?

File photo of S Sreesanth (Photo: Reuters)

S Sreesanth, Ajith Chandila and Ankeet Chavan are among the 42 people who have been discharged by the Patiala House Court in the IPL 6 spot-fixing case. This comes as a setback to the Delhi Police investigation in which Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Shakeel have also been chargesheeted.

All of the accused had been charged for offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy and under stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Irony #1

While the charges have been dropped against the players themselves, their team owners – Raj Kundra and his fellow investors – have been suspended from the IPL for a period of two years by a Supreme Court panel headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha.

But the players, S Sreesanth, Ajith Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who’ve been out of action for nearly two years now, will look to the BCCI to lift the ban and allow them to access training facilities.

Irony #2

BCCI’s anti-corruption consultant Neeraj Kumar however, may have a few thoughts against lifting that ban, considering the IPL spot-fixing breakthrough was his swan song as the Delhi Police Commissioner.

Where Did Delhi Police Go Wrong?

The investigation was regarded as a major breakthrough in hawala transactions between bookies and the underworld. But the shoddily prepared 6,000 page-long chargesheet was completely disregarded by the Patiala House Court that consistently questioned the rationale for invoking MCOCA when trying to nail the accused cricketers. This is because India does not have a law that specifically deals with betting or spot-fixing.