No proof of spot-fixing by Raj Kundra: Delhi top cop

Raj Kundra’s confession to the cops that he was involved in placing bets on IPL matches may have saved him. The Delhi Police chief has said that they have been unable to gather enough evidence against the co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals, but though he may not have been arrested so far, he isn’t off the hook completely yet. “Supposing we had him on tape while making a bet or making a transaction and we had recovered the money,then it was a different matter. Here is a situation where he come to us and confessed. It is not admissible in a court of law,” the Delhi police chief told CNN-IBN in an exclusive interview_._ “If we had something more like in case of Sreesanth then it would be a different matter,” Kumar said. The police chief has said there was no question of applying provisions of the Gambling Act against Kundra since it was a ‘weak act’ and the case being investigated by the police was only concerned with spot-fixing in the IPL. Despite the fact that Kundra was the co-owner of the team from which three players have been arrested for spot fixing, the Delhi top cop said that there was no evidence he had influenced any players. [caption id=“attachment_848993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: BCCI[/caption] “As of now there is no evidence to show that Kundra has influenced any player to under-perform,” Kumar said. You can never tell how things go though, the police chief said. He also said they were not obliged to inform the media what their next step in the investigations would be, especially if they would call actor Shilpa Shetty for questioning. The police chief said that they had spoken to bookie Umesh Goenka and then Kundra, and found that their statements regarding the bets placed were identical. While other police officials claimed that Kundra had lost Rs one crore due to bets, Kuamr refused to comment on the amount that had been bet. “Merely disclosures made to the police is not enough evidence to go against anybody,” Kumar said. Kundra’s passport had been retained in order to continue the probe further in the matter, he said. “It is premature to say whether I am giving him a clean chit or not…” Kumar said.  But when pressed the Rajasthan Royals co-owner wasn’t off the hook just yet. The Delhi police chief said that the police would welcome a new law on match fixing. “A new law is welcome and would make things simpler for the police…There is a very strong campaign for legalised betting but according to me that will not solve the problem,” Kumar said. He pointed out that the betting would not be carried out except using black money. The Delhi Police chief said that there was no reason for a combined probe with the Mumbai Police against Kundra since they were completely different cases. He, however, did not rule out giving the information they had to authorities to investigate allegations of money laundering against Kundra.