The Crime Branch CID of the Tamil Nadu police has sought the transfer of the sensational IPL match-fixing case out of trial court.
The move comes close on the heels of the XI Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet, S. Prakash pointing to serious lapses in the investigation officer’s final report and ordering further probe in the case to unearth circumstances that led to allegations of match fixing.
However, CB-CID sources said a petition was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate to transfer all the cases in the agency’s Metro Wing to a special court coming up at Allikulam here and the IPL case was part of it. “There is no intention or attempt to transfer this particular case,” a police official said.
When the CB-CID filed its final report in May, 2016, the magistrate raised several queries, including why the investigation was “so silent” on the charge that inside information on IPL team strategies was passed on to bookies resulting in match-fixing.
The trial court had sought to know why the relationship or contacts found between Gurunath Meiyappan (of the Chennai Super Kings) and city-based hotelier Vikram Agarwal were not explained properly in the final report. The magistrate wondered whether the police made any attempt to examine Mr. Meiyappan and Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh, named as the key accused in the IPL match-fixing case. The court also asked whether investigators perused the call details record (CDR) of Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Agarwal before and after the IPL matches played by Chennai Super Kings.
Going into the crucial report of senior IPS officer Sampath Kumar, now under suspension, on the interrogation of Utham Jain alias Kitty, one of the alleged bookies, by the ‘Q’ Branch CID, the court wanted the CB-CID to explain whether it made any attempt to collect evidence or materials with regard to the report.
A year later when the investigation officer submitted the final report again in the first week of April, the magistrate was still not convinced and ordered further investigation to uncover issues relating to match-fixing. The magistrate made a specific point that the investigation was focussed only on the petty offence of betting and not on aspects of conspiracy and cheating, which were more serious in nature.
The IPL match-fixing and betting scandal that hit the headlines in 2013 was investigated simultaneously by the Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi police. The scam resulted in a Supreme Court-appointed committee banning CSK and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL for two years.
