Anti-Corruption Unit to IPL teams: Stop yacht parties and lavish dinners

IPL teams are once again in trouble. Time and again the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reiterated that they have a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption. Jagmohan Dalmiya has in the past stressed the need for “every effort” to make cricket pure and spotless. So under their new “zero tolerance policy” the IPL team owners lavish yacht parties, and five star dinners are all under threat of violating the rules, according to the Indian Express, which has published emails from ACSU chief Ravi Sawani, where he has listed instances where players and franchise violated operational rules and the Anti-Corruption Code. [caption id=“attachment_2213774” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BCCI. Reuters[/caption] One of the most frequent complaints made by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) are women staying over at the players hotel rooms. In one instance a CSK player had a late night visitor who stayed until daybreak the next day. When questioned, the player stated that she was a very close friend and that he was going to “marry her.” Later inquiries by the ACU revealed that the same woman has been in touch with the banned player Sreesanth and a few other senior players of different IPL teams. According to the BCCI’s ACU protocol, “rooms cannot be shared with anyone other than wives, blood relations and partners that have been declared in advance.” Absolutely no visitors are allowed to the players rooms without prior permission of the team manager. In another instance, a senior foreign player let his male friend stay with him in his room and not just that, also allowed him to travel with the team squad in the team bus. No outsider is even allowed access to the team bus. This appears to be an attempt by the BCCI and the ACU to get a little more stringent after the spot-fixing scandal hit the IPL in 2013. A Rajasthan Royals player was approached this year in a match fixing attempt. After hearing the news, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur immediately tweeted out that “BCCI’s education policy [is] showing positive results. Players are alert and they know what is to be done due to our regular education efforts.” As Desh Gaurav Sekhri, a sports lawyer, explained to _Firstpost_ after Sreesanth and two other Royals players were arrested for fixing in 2013: “It is going to be very, very difficult [to prove criminal liability]. The first issue is who is going to serve as the complainant. It is for this reason that the Rajasthan Royals have been asked to file an FIR. It is pretty clear they are the only ones who have a case against the players.” Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan in 2013 were booked under sections 420 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code and charged with cheating, but it is still unclear who exactly was cheated.