‘And so I find myself in an emotional cauldron; in a sport I love, in a tournament whose cricket I genuinely believe in, but in an atmosphere, even if created by a few, tinged with moral decay and danger. I feel sadness and fear. I am angry very often, but from time to time expectation wells up within: that my sport might emerge stronger, that out of pain a better sport will evolve.’ Harsha Bhogle
In a shocking incident this month, a man in Kanpur put his wife at stake in an Indian Premiere League (IPL) betting game and lost her. According to newspaper reports, the matter came to light after some men started harassing the punter’s wife, who finally lodged a complaint with the police with the help of social activists.
In Delhi, on May 12, a man hanged himself in a tree not far from the Parliament complex after losing crores in cricket betting. A resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district, the man left a 23-page suicide note saying he had no option but to end his life as he had lost all money, including his life’s saving, in betting on cricket matches. The man was deep in debt as he had taken loans from various people to place bets. The news was covered by all major dailies in India.
Betting in sports is illegal in India, except horse racing. It is punishable by law. But betting has been going on in India despite anti-betting provisions. In fact, India was in news for betting in cricket on a large scale.
Who would forget Hansie Cronje whose recorded conversation with Sanjay Chawla, a representative of Indian betting syndicate, was revealed by the Delhi Police in 1999? Cronje confessed to the King Commission in South Africa to have been involved in betting. He was banned for life from playing cricket. His confessions brought the betting in cricket in the limelight and led to unearthing of the biggest scandal of match fixing and betting in India at that time.
Following Cronje confession, Indian cricket was jolted by allegations of betting and match fixing involving some of the biggest names in the Indian cricket. As a result Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Umang Mongia, Manoj Prabhakar received various degrees of punishments.
Initially denying the charges, Azhar confessed to CBI to have fixed matches. An idol to millions of cricket loving fans, Azhar was a great letdown. He and Ajay Sharma were banned for life for their involvement in match fixing. Jadeja was handed a five-year ban while Prabhakar was banned from holding a post in Indian cricket for five years. Prabhakar made allegations of match fixing on Kapil Dev who in an emotional interview to the BBC trashed Prabhakar for making such an allegation against him. Crying in the show, he said, ‘After giving so much to Indian cricket, this is what he gets.’
Later on, Jadeja’s ban was overturned by the Delhi High Court, citing no proof of his involvement in match fixing, and in 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the life ban on Azharuddin, terming it as ‘unsustainable’.
Comes the IPL betting dhamakha in 2013! In April that year, Delhi Police, under Sections 420 and 120 B of the IPC, arrested S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan of the franchisee Rajasthan Royals along with 7 bookies for allegations of spot-fixing. Shortly thereafter Gurunathan Meiyappan, son-in-law of N.Srinivasan, BCCI President and owner of franchisee Chennai Super Kings, was also arrested by the Mumbai Police on May 25, 2013 in a spot fixing/betting case. The three players in this fixing and betting were allegedly promised money ranging from US$36,000 to 109,000 for each over.
In the same year 2013, during the IPL matches, the state police registered 345 cases against IPL bookies and punters in over 10 districts and arrested 27 people and seized television sets, computers and cell phones. The police claimed that it was close to breaking an IPL betting network that had apparently clocked over ` 1,200 crore by that time. The police had taken out advertisements warning people against betting on IPL games and cracked down on the racket.
Cricket has become a multibillion dollar industry now. The corporatization of sports was witnessed at the start of Indian Premiere League in 2007. The ‘Karry Packers of India’ started a franchisee system of cricket with high stakes. The players were chosen on the basis of auction. The bets became high on the game as the money spent on players was high and the management of team and players came as a priority. And so came all the murky dealings which went unreported first. In the razzmatazz of the spectacular sporting event being held in the country where the sport in questions was considered as religion, all rules were bent and the authorities bent over backwards. Corporate houses like Reliance, India Cements, Reddy’s, etc. were the team owners. The money involved was big. Never had the Cricket seen so much money!
IPL became a hotbed of controversy. In 2010, the man responsible to have brought IPL Lalit Modi was found neck deep in controversial dealings. In the same year during the IPL matches, Modi’s offices in Mumbai were scanned by the IT sleuths and it was allegedly found out that Modi was involved in the rigging of bids involving Rajasthan Royals and Kings X1, getting facilitation fee of around $80 million in granting TV rights to Multi Screen Media and World Sports Group, and squeezing favours for his friends and family members. He was sacked by BCCI and he left India for good. Later on, Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in her hotel room. Her name had cropped up in some ‘sweet money’ deal which was made to her in IPL franchisee allotment.
The Delhi Police estimates that in one IPL match the total bets would be around ` 150 crores. Article 2.2.2 of the BCCI Code defines betting which is interalia placing, accepting, laying or otherwise entering into any bet with any other party in relation to the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any other match or event.
Let us also understand that match fixing refers to fixing the final result of the game while spot fixing would involve fixing of certain events within a match which can be gambled upon, but which may or may not prove decisive in determining the final result of the game.
According to BCCI Code, betting is one of the actionable wrongs. In terms of its Article 2.5.2, the participant who authorises, causes, knowingly assists, encourages, aids, abets, covers up or is otherwise complicit in any act or omission of the types described in Articles 2.1. to 2.4 committed by his/her coach, trainer, manager, agent, family member, guest or other associate shall be treated as having committed such an act or omission himself and shall be liable accordingly under the Anti-Corruption Code.
After the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal, the Apex Court set up Mukul Mudgal Panel to look into the charges of the scandal. It was a multimember panel, headed by retired Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court, Justice Mukul Mudgal, and included L. Nageshwar Rao, Additional Solicitor General and Nilay Dutt, Senior Advocate, Gauhati High Court.
The committee made a number of recommendations to cleanse the cricket of betting, match fixing and mismanagement. It observed that the present measures undertaken by BCCI in combating sporting fraud were ineffective and insufficient. It recommended making the IPL governing body independent of BCCI and not allowing player’s agents to travel with the players. Employment of players in franchise group companies should be avoided. Players should not have stakes in agencies involved in cricket.
Mudgal Committee also recommended legalising betting and a separate law, investigating agency and courts to deal with betting and match-fixing charges and emphasised that the law must be stringent like anti- terror and anti-drug laws. It said that post-match parties should be banned and the list of undesirable elements maintained by BCCI should be circulated among players. Senior players with unimpeachable record like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, and so on should caution and advise the younger players against pitfalls of indulging in malpractices like betting and match fixing/spot fixing. Such interactions with legends of the sport might be the most effective and deterrent means of preventing future wrongdoing.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgement in Cricket Association of Bihar Vs BCCI constituted Justice Lodha Panel to decide the quantum of punishment to Gurunath Meriyappan, Raj Kundra and their franchisee CSK and Rajasthan Royals and also to find out what steps must be taken to reforms BCCI and what changes it requires in its rules and regulations to make it more transparent and to safeguard it from all the trappings and snares.
Based on the argument of parties, reading of the IPL Operational Rules, Anti- Corruption Code for Participants and Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials, Mukul Mudgal Probe Committee Report and the observations made by the Supreme Court in the case of BCCI v Cricket Association of Bihar, the Committee declared Gurunath Meriyappan and Raj Kundra ineligible from participation in the sport of cricket as explained in the Anti- Corruption Code for the maximum period of 5 years under Article 2.2.1and suspended them for life from the activities as explained in Article 7.5 under Level 4 (first offence) of Article 2.4 of the Code of conduct and suspended them for life from being involved in any type of cricket matches under Section 6, rule 4.2(b) read with (j) of the Operational Rules. As for the Indian Cement Ltd and Jaipur IPL cricket Ltd, they were suspended from the IPL for a period of two years.
The Committee has made a number recommendation to reform the BCCI and cleanse the system and make cricket betting free. The Panel wants BCCI to come under RTI Act. It recommends a new legalisation of betting and proposes one person one post and no proxy voting of individuals. It says that no BCCI office-bearer can have more than two consecutive terms and no BCCI office-bearer can be Minister or government servant and in no case President will hold post for more than 2 years. The Lodha panel recommends separate governing bodies for the IPL and BCCI. The Panel also recommends legalising of betting, banning of advertisements in between overs during cricket telecast and age-limit for BCCI office-bearers.
However, these recommendations have not gone down the BCCI. They said they were un-implementable and filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court. However, hearing BCCI’s affidavit on the implementation of Lodha Committee’s recommendations, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), saying that its mandate was to promote cricket in the country but it had done nothing to develop it.
The Apex Court is yet to take a final call on the recommendations. But the writing on the wall is clear: Cricket governance in India must change in the interest of the game. The Apex Court has rightly held: ‘Cricket being more than just a sport for millions in this part of the world, accusations of malpractices and conflict of interests against those who not only hold positions of influence in the BCCI but also own franchises and teams competing in the IPL format have left many a cricketing enthusiasts and followers of the game worried and deeply suspicious about what goes on in the name of the game. And cricket being not only a passion but a great unifying force in this country, a zero tolerance approach towards any wrong doing alone can satisfy the cry for cleansing.’
On May 22 in Bhopal police nabbed three gamblers for placing and accepting bets on the ongoing IPL matches from Nehru Nagar under Kamla Nagar police station area and recovered betting slips having transactions of lakhs of rupees, four mobile phones, one LED TV and one set top box from their possession.
According to a PTI report, on May 26, ten youths were arrested for allegedly betting in a hotel in Koregaon Park in Pune on the Indian Premier League match this season between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Cash, mobile phones, LED screen worth ` 4.42 lakh were seized from their possession by the special branch and anti-extortion cell of Pune police during the raid. A case under relevant sections of Gambling Act was registered and all the accused were produced before a local court, which released them on bail.
Currently, the legal system has operational impediments when it comes to establishing and punishing unethical activity in sports. Justice Mukul Mudgal in his reports points out that since betting and gambling are State subjects in the 7th schedule of the Constitution of India, there is no consolidated uniform law applicable to the entire country. So, he says, in view of the specific requirements stipulated in Section 415 read with Section 420 of the IndianPenal Code the applicability of these provisions in matters of fixing of games/ spots/ sessions is debatable.
So, he recommends: “It is most imperative to enact a substantive law making all forms of manipulation of sports, corruption and malpractices a criminal offence. The law so enacted must be applicable uniformly in the country and should stipulate the creation of an independent investigating agency, a dedicated prosecuting directorate and a separate judicial forum for expeditious trials.’
He also suggest providing for stringent deterrent punishments, similar provisions as in Section 18 of the MCOCA and restrictive bail provisions as in NDPS and other similar enactments. Justice Mudgal has highlighted the influx of hawala money and involvement of terrorist elements in matter of betting and fixing of sports is causing serious threat to national security. Therefore, he says, in view of the national interest involved, it would be necessary to explore the options available to the Parliament and the legislatures of various states to adopt the procedure stipulated in Article 252 of the Constitution of India.
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