Sreesanth and IPL spot fixing: Why history makes it so hard to believe the police

[CG]

With the Delhi and Mumbai police spending considerable time, energy and resources on the case, suddenly it looks as if the biggest crisis facing India now is betting in cricket, spot fixing and the sleaze attributed to Sreesanth and Ajit Chandila. Of course, one cannot completely blame the police for going overboard because there is a possible big-picture angle of trans-national crime, terrorism and violation of financial regulations because cricket betting, much less fixing, is a high-stakes game and is intrinsically underwritten by criminals. However, the way in which things are unraveling is seriously disconcerting – particularly because of what appears in the media as leaks from the police or the details attributed to police. They are more to do with sleaze and scintillation than real criminal investigation or big ticket crime. Being seen with girls or partying with them, having girl-friends, keeping pictures of girls on one’s computer and party-hopping, which are otherwise aspirational values that the mainstream media – both the print and television – unabashedly promote, assume a selectively criminal tone. Interestingly, the colourful video clips that the television news channels play on loop to portray the sleaze angle related with Sreesanth are from popular television shows or A-list stage programmes from the past, where he is in the company of many women, including a former Miss Universe. Yesterday’s arm candy and star attractions have become today’s “escorts†and whoever (woman) was seen with Sreesanth has become a possible casting couch partner. Some even reported that condoms were seized from his room, as if practising safe sex is a crime. Sreesanth and the three cricketers have been accused of more crimes than they may be guilty of. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost So, the question is, if Sreesanth didn’t have the present criminal charges against him, would his celebrated colourful life still be held against him? If any of us have several girl friends, go pub-hopping and practice safe-sex, with or without “sex-vigour†pills, are we violating law? If Sreesanth is exonerated, will the “escorts†again become celebrities? The spot-fixing or criminal charges against Sreesanth are still charges until they are proved in a court of law. As Union Minister Shashi Tharoor initially said on record, he is innocent until proven guilty. Our politicians say the same thing many times in a day even if they have been convicted in a trial because they have appealed against them. Our glib ministers also say the same thing, whenever there is mounting evidence of a mega-scam. In the case of the three arrested cricketers, all that we have heard so far is the version of the police. From whatever the police said so far, they seem to be certain that they have a watertight case. Their investigating officers appeared to be confident of defending themselves in a court of law. However, their voluntary disclosures and answers to media questions, including at the press conference by the Delhi Police Commissioner, appear to be too circumstantial and patchy to be legally convincing. Even if one is willing to go by their confidence, their past should make us highly apprehensive and cynical. For all their claims of scientific investigations, the Delhi Police’s average conviction rate is about 37 per cent, which means that in every case they handle, there is a two-third chance of the accused being let off by the courts. Going by these odds, the cricketers have approximately a 60 percent chance of escaping conviction, notwithstanding the present claims of the police. The Delhi police has always been accused of procedural lapses and fudging facts in serious criminal cases, and the courts have overturned several sensational terrorism cases. For instance, in August 2012, the High Court had upheld the acquittal of seven persons by the trial court which had held that they were captured in a “fake encounter†and were falsely implicated. There are in fact so many cases to Delhi police’s credit, which fell flat in the courts. With such a record, trusting its version, which is far from complete, is a bit tricky. If the Delhi police is not responsible for the leaks that appear in the media, perhaps its time that they came out and said it. To be fair, the Commissioner of Delhi Police didn’t appear to entertain speculations whenever he appeared on TV, but what is published as attributions to Delhi police hardly have any legal consequence. It’s highly violating of rights to let out defamatory information on people who are still innocent in the eyes of law. More over, since they are in custody, they are practically gagged. It’s not just Delhi police that seems be to be enthusiastic about Sreesanth and company. The Mumbai police convened a strange press conference to announce the seizure of Sreesanth’s laptop, phone, iPad and personal belongings. If not for silly publicity, riding on the hype, what was the purpose of the press conference? The Mumbai police could have very well seized anything they wanted, investigated the case scientifically and gone to court if they needed to. However, in that case their conviction rate might not been a pathetic 8.2 per cent. How can we trust anything that the Mumbai Police charge people with, if 90 out of the 100 people they arrest are finally allowed to go home by the courts? Isn’t it grossly violating human rights? Isn’t it such a national shame? Still, we lap up whatever salacious stuff they give us and don’t ask them why they held a press conference to announce a routine step in an investigation. Now the second big question. Is cleansing Indian cricket our police’s responsibility? Or is it that of the BCCI, which continues to maintain that it is a private body that cannot be subjected to the transparency norms sweeping the country, such as the RTI. Why should tax payers’ money be used to police a profligate caucus that is resistant to transparency and good governance principles? Where is the public interest? The police can justify its role citing the cheating angle – they can very well say that the three cricketers were cheating the cricket-watching public. But then, cheating the public of what? Their evening entertainment? Or cheating the people who illegally betted on their performance? By the same logic, can one file an FIR alleging that Shah Rukh Khan his cheated people by not entertaining to the extent he had promised in the pre-release promos of his films? If the police is really serious in protecting people from cheating, it should crack down on the large-scale frauds that are going on right under its nose. Chit scams, money-chains and pyramids, fraudulent investment offers, magical remedies, quackery and so on. If the police can suo moto investigate the three cricketers for cheating and conspiracy (that is what the police said – Section 420 and 120B) – without any aggrieved party filing a complaint, why can’t it just simply scan the newspapers, internet, TV and the markets in their neighbourhood and crack down on schemes that are likely to defraud people? Now the third question and let’s keep it very simple. What has happened to all illegalities such as alleged FEMA violations, and circumstances that led to the axing of two IPL teams three years ago? What has become of the strong recommendations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance led by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on IPL? His report had found serious violations by the BCCI, some IPL-franchisees and even complicity by the government departments. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan are inconsequential in the big game, but they are instruments of trivia and sleaze. Thirteen years ago, we have seen the biggest names in Indian cricket openly acknowledging the practice of match fixing and amassing wealth in the Tehelka tapes, but nobody went to jail or lost anything in life. The real cheats and criminals are likely to get away this time too because fixing retail corruption makes it easy for the big guns.

http://www.firstpost.com/sports/ipl/sreesanth-and-ipl-spot-fixing-why-history-makes-it-so-hard-to-believe-the-police-801499.html

[saneindian]

Well done CG. Asked this before- Azhar and Jadeja have also not been proved guilty and got the fixing charges thrashed by the court, do you consider them honest?

[CG]

Arrey I am not the author.Azhar and jaddu got away because of lack of evidence and No laws were there.If i remember Cronje said azhar took him to bookies.Even kapil Dev had allegations against him by prabhakar.Jadeja was banned for Having links.This case is different police have direct evidence they {say so}.