IPL fixing and the curious role of the Indian police

“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll There were two reports submitted by the Justice Mudgal committee – one was the final report which was submitted to the court and another was drafted by Advocate Nilay Dutta, who was a member of the three-man committee. While the final report is pretty straightforward – it is Dutta’s report that makes more interesting reading because it highlights the flaws in the functioning of the police which at best seems incompetent and at worst, seems party to a cover-up. The gaps of logic in the investigation notwithstanding, it also showcases just why it’s almost impossible for a proper investigation to be carried out in the country today. [caption id=“attachment_1383967” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police. PTI[/caption] At the end of it, you may also be so surprised that you may forget how to speak good English. Excerpts from Nilay Dutta’s report follow: “There seems to have been an effort to cover up the involvement of Mr. Raj Kundra in betting.” “Curiously, Chandresh Patel though known to the Mumbai police to be a co-conspirator with Vindoo Dara Singh is shown only as a witness and not as an accused in the Mumbai chargesheet.” “Curiously, this interrogation report of Kitty (Mr. Utham Jain) was not available in the records of CBCID when they produced the case file of CBCID C. No. 1/2013 before the Committee. Srimati Bhuvaneswari, Superintendent of Police, Q Branch CID, admitted that there was another file in the Q branch pertaining to the investigation of fake passport case against Md. Jaffar alias Jaffarullah in connection with Q branch Case No. 1/2013. The Committee was assured that this particular file would be produced by the Q branch at 4 PM on 25.01.2013. Surprisingly, none appeared before the Committee and no record was produced before the Committee as assured. There has been absolutely no response/communication from the Q branch thereafter. The Committee is not in a position therefore to ascertain whether the interrogation report of Kitty as stated by Mr. G. Sampath Kumar in fact exists.” “Curiously, the Delhi Police failed to investigate all such players (who were named by S Sreenath) whose names had cropped up during investigation.” “Curiously, the Mumbai Police has not charged anyone else except Gurunath Meiyappan for laying bets in IPL matches through Ramesh Vyas, Vindoo Dara Singh and others. It is absolutely unbelievable that Mumbai Police has failed to locate all such other persons who were involved in this betting racket. It is inconceivable such a huge betting syndicate would function for the benefit of only one person, Gurunath Meiyappan.” “Curiously, the Mumbai police negate any connection between Ramesh Vyas and Dawood Ibrahim and have denied before the Committee any knowledge that Mr. Ramesh Vyas was in charge of the betting operations of Dawood Ibrahim in the Mumbai turf.” “Unfortunately, the Mumbai Police did not place any scientific evidence before the Committee that the voice in the tape in fact was that of Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan. According to the Mumbai Police, the results from the forensics were still awaited.” “It may also be pointed out that information on proposed fixing of Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals match on 15.05.2013 was available to Mumbai Police on 12.05.2013 through the intercepted conversations of Asad Rauf, the umpire for the match. Yet, Asad Rauf was never detained by the Mumbai Police and was allowed to leave the country on 19.05.2013 after completing his pre-fixed assignments. Even a discreet look out notice was not issued in the name of Asad Rauf.” What becomes clearly evident after reading the above excerpts from the report is that the police have come out and held press conferences without ever having the required evidence in place. So what was the rush to do so? Before coming out in the open with their allegations against Gurunath Meiyappan could they have not at least ensured that they carried out the required tests on the voice samples in their possession? The scandal first broke in May and the police still haven’t understood that it needs concrete evidence to bring a solid case against anyone. Then, there is the case of Asad Rauf being allowed to leave the country. This isn’t just an intelligence breakdown – this is a breakdown of the system. It serves a different master and with different goals. If the lawyers are to be believed even the cases against Sreesanth and co won’t stand in the court of law. In fact, at the end of it all, it seems as if the bookies run a better operation than the police. The police in Mumbai, Delhi, and Jaipur were often at loggerheads with each other – fighting a turf war when the need of the hour was to collaborate and get the guilty parties to book. Justice delayed is often justice denied – similarly by delaying the investigation or simply not following up on the evidence, the police are doing a disservice to the nation. It seems like a botched up investigation for the moment and allows for a cover-up. It allows people to go underground, it allows people to leave the country. If they were quick to call a press conference and lay out the ‘evidence’ before us – then they should be just as prompt to finish the investigation too. But as it stands, things have just got curiouser and curiouser.