BETTING AND FIXING ATTEMPTS WILL GO ON, SAYS NEERAJ KUMAR, ANTI-CORRUPTION UNIT CHIEF, BCCI

(INTERVIEW)

 By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, Outlook magazine

Neeraj Kumar, now 64, was the Delhi Police Commissioner when his subordinates broke the 2013 IPL betting-fixing scandal by arresting several cricketers like Sree Santh, and now heads the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit. Kumar spoke to Qaiser Mohammad Ali on the challenges of tackling bookies and the menace of betting and match-fixing. Excerpts:

Do you see a spurt in bookies’ activities?

One can never know because we get information about their moves and their approaches once in a while, but that is no measure of what they are doing behind the scenes. It’s not that if they are more active we’ll get to know or if they are less active we’ll get to know. They are always active because the stakes are so high, so people have to be active, though they’ve become more cautious and adopt newer techniques. Just to give a perspective, on betting website Betfair alone, $45 million are bet on one IPL match. And there are several such websites. And this is open betting; you can imagine what goes on in the dark sector. Most of the Indian bookies -- and those who bet ‘petis’ and ‘khokhas’ etc – don’t do it by any means by which they could be tracked. They are always active and we should go with the presumption that they are at it all the time.

So, the ACUs of all the countries and the ICC have to be one step ahead of them?

Obviously, that’s the logical conclusion. In every which way we have to be more active, whether it’s technical assets or human assets or your own resources – manpower and technical – more hands-on, more pro-active and so on.

Since Sobers Joban is a former domestic Indian cricketer, can the BCCI ACU take action against him [after a sting done by British tabloid, The Sun]?

For what? First of all, you have to understand that the BCCI ACU has no police powers. We cannot summon, interrogate or arrest anybody. Secondly, suppose a police station wants to take action, but the laws are as good as non-existent. You’ve seen the fate of cases in the past. In the absence of proper legislation to deal with betting etc – unlike in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – we cannot make any kind of illegal activity in any sport illegal and enforcement agencies are totally powerless. There is a Bill pending in Parliament, though. The only thing that the BCCI ACU can do is to gather intelligence and to have photographs [of bookies/punters] and tell players, who are being educated by the ACU all the time, that so and so is a shady man and please beware of him. And, as I have said in my letter that has gone public, that the BCCI ACU knew about Sobers Joban and Prinyank Saxena and the fact that we have all the details of them, it should be a matter of great satisfaction, if not pride, for the BCCI.

Did you take into confidence the CBI’s Sports Integrity Unit in this or other cases?

We are not in touch with them, nor they are with us. I accidentally came to know about this unit’s existence just a couple of months ago because it is investigating the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association matter [financial irregularities].

Do you think this CBI unit can help in curbing the fixing menace?

That can happen only if you have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the BCCI and the CBI. It has to be through the ministry that controls the CBI. If I have to deal with any police force on a regular basis, and if it’s binding on that force to assist the BCCI ACU, it has to be through the MoU that spells out the rules of business. This is a matter for consideration.

Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals return to the IPL in 2018 after serving their two-year bans. Do you feel that it will pose a bigger challenge to the BCCI ACU?

Although their return will have no direct bearing on the level of corruption that might happen, betting would take place whether it is team ‘X’ or ‘Y’. Betting and fixing attempts will go on the same scale. If something happens like it happened in 2013, whether it is caught by the police force or the ICC, of course it will immediately be a reflection on the BCCI itself.

Have you given any blueprint for monitoring the IPL?

We have a blueprint that we follow every IPL. But I have sent several proposals for augmentation for IPL and for other resources. Even when the ACU was formed in 2012 the minimum total sanctioned strength was six people, including its chief. We are short by three on that proposal and more than five years have gone by, leave alone making additional changes. And the number of matches has gone up several times.

The BCCI wants to retire all its employees at 60. Do you think that’s a fair call vis-à-vis ACU personnel?

I joined at the age of 61-plus. I can’t make a comment on that because that would be a policy decision of the Board. But the point is that when you are looking for a Director to head the ACU and if you are looking for an IPS officer, surely nobody will quit the police service to join BCCI, if he’s worth his salt as a cop. It will always be someone 60-plus, once he has retired from the service.

Are you willing to stay as BCCI ACU chief? 

Why wouldn’t I? The insights and the understanding of the goings-on have come only with passage of time. And I would like to continue to put that to good use in the interest of cricket and to keep it clean.

(This interview first appeared in Outlook)