IPL betting: Did Jaipur cops save Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra?

Could Rajasthan Royals have been banned if a proper enquiry had been conducted into the IPL spot-fixing scandal? Could its owners Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty have been found guilty of betting or influencing the players? Did the cops in Jaipur and Delhi save the actor and her husband? [caption id=“attachment_138339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra[/caption] The probe panel on the scandal has thrown up many arguments to suggest that Kundra and Shilpa are in a royal mess. The panel’s report argues that there is a lot of material linking Kundra to betting and bookies to warrant a serious probe. It suggests that a serious probe may have indicted the two owners of the franchisee. But the Jaipur police made no effort to further investigate the case against Kundra. There was, in fact, an attempt to cover-up the scandal even when the Royals, both its owners and players, were at the centre of the betting scandal. Consider the case against Kundra. Unlike Gurunath Meiyappan, whose ownership of Chennai Super Kings was challenged by the franchisee, Kundra’s role in the Royals is well-defined. He and his wife hold a minority stake in the cricket team. The panel believes that the case against Kundra could be strong. It found that the Delhi police believe Kundra and his wife placed bets on several IPL matches through their friend Umesh Goenka. Kundra allegedly introduced Goenka to several other IPL teams and players. He was also Goenka’s guide to betting and bookies in Jaipur, home of the Royals. “The committee posed a specific query to him in relation to his confessional statement made before the Delhi Police under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which was subsequently withdrawn by him, wherein he had admitted to betting in the IPL,” says the report. “The committee is of the view that the statement recorded goes beyond mere admittance and records the manner in which and the amounts of bets placed, wherein he has stated that he had placed one such bet, from the phone of his wife…”it adds. “He (Goenka) stated that Kundra used to place bets. The police told us that Goenka had stated that whenever he used to ask Kundra any information relating to a team or a match, Kundra would tell him to directly contact the players. This is because Kundra knew that Goenka was friends with players,” the report says. Though this information was forwarded to the Jaipur police in June 2013, no further investigation was conducted, according to the probe panel. The committee now wants further and serious investigation as Kundra and his wife are part owners of Rajasthan Royals. “After a thorough investigation, if the allegations of betting and/or spot fixing/match fixing can be proved, appropriate action should be taken against Kundra and Shetty as well as the franchise,” it recommends. Advocate Nilay Dutta, who was part of the three-member panel, sounds ominous when he sums up the finds: “There seems to have been an effort to cover up the involvement of Kundra in betting. In terms of the regulations in force of the BCCI, even legal betting is not permitted on the part of an owner of a franchisee.” “There are materials on record which justify an appropriate investigation to ascertain the culpability of Kundra and his wife in placing bets as owner of a franchisee in IPL. Any such culpability on the part of the Kundras would fasten liability on the franchisee,” Dutta recommends. But it may be too late. The interest in the scandal has died down, the pressure on the investigating agencies has eased and crucial evidence may already have been erased. It seems, ironically, cops helped Kundra and Royals survive by fixing their case.