In 2013, Indian cricket was in turmoil due to the Indian Premier League (IPL) fixing scandal. As a result, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were banned from the IPL for two years.
Then, Again in 2019, there was an uproar in the cricket community around the allegations of betting in the IPL. The investigation was handed over to the CBI. The Central Investigation agrncy announced on January 2 that the investigation of the case has been stopped due to lack of evidence.
The CBI registered two separate cases
The IPL has been marred by several controversies, involving, betting, spot-fixing, and match fixing. The controversy of alleged match fixing in the IPL occurred in 2019.
The case was handed over to the CBI in May, 2022.
May 14, 2022
The CBUI (Central Bureau of Investigation) filed two separate FIRs in May 2022 based on information received from Pakistan, against seven suspected punters for allegedly fixing some matches of the IPL 2019 season. The agency received inputs that “a network of persons involved in cricket betting was influencing the outcome of IPL matches based on inputs received from Pakistan”, the FIRs read.
May 15, 2022
The CBI conducts raids at the premises of the accused in Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Jodhpur and seizes several electronic devices, documents, cash and other incriminating evidence.
Who were the accused?
Dilip Kumar, a resident of Rohini, Delhi, along with Gurram Basu and Gurram Satish, both residents of Hyderabad, were named in the first FIR.
The second FIR, however, involved four residents of Rajasthan. They are Sajjan Singh, Prabhulal Meena, Ram Avatar and Anit Kumar.
The agency had booked these people on allegations that they were running the racket for more than 10-13 years with suspicious cash transactions being made from their accounts, the officials said.
The CBI had alleged that these individuals were in touch with Pakistani individuals through a Pakistani mobile number. The two networks getting inputs from Pakistan were allegedly deceiving the public by ”inducing them for betting”, the FIR had said.
More Information about the Betting case, Findings from Probe
According the report of the investigation, the racketeers had bank accounts (mule accounts) using fake identities and KYC documents in connivance with unidentified bank officials. However, the CBI failed to generalize on this matter further.
The CBI alleged that Dileep Kumar was operating several bank accounts where domestic cash worth over Rs 43 lakh was deposited since 2013.
At the beginning of the investigation, it was claimed by the CBI that between 2012 and 2020, Rs 4.55 crore and Rs 3.05 lakh (foreign) had been deposited in six bank accounts of accused Gurram Satish.
Another accused, Gurram Basu, had deposited Rs 5 crore and 37 lakh in his account. But the CBI could not adduce any proper evidence in this regard. As a result, no one was found guilty in the investigation. The agency had alleged that there was no recognizable business rationale to explain the transactions.
According to FIR, this fraud network of individuals was involved in cricket betting during the then-ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches held in the year 2019 in Delhi and other places.
Why CBI Stops the Investigation
The Central Investigation Agency has been investigating the 2019 IPL match-fixing case for the last one and a half years. But the CBI investigators could not find any proper evidence for this allegation.
The CBI Cricket Betting Network investigation found a lack of evidence. The investigation revealed that the network had cheated the public through betting using fake identities, affecting IPL matches. The CBI informed the court to close the investigation at the end of 2023.
The CBI submitted a closure report to the Delhi court on December 23 last year. Now, the court will decide whether the investigation will be closed or whether the CBI will close the investigation.
It was said in the FIR, that Pakistan is involved in the IPL cheating case. The accused are running this cycle in contact with various people in Pakistan. The information revealed that this network of individuals was involved in cricket betting during Indian Premier League (IPL) matches held in 2019.
the FIR related to the Delhi-Hyderabad racket stated that The involved persons are running The racket ofcricket betting, cheating the public of their hard-earned money by inducing bets by the general public.
