IPS officer who investigated IPL betting suspended

A senior IPS officer from Tamil Nadu who investigated the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket betting racket from Q-branch, was suspended on Friday on charges of receiving money from a bookie.

Sources from police headquarters here said that G Sampath Kumar currently posted as Trichy Railway Superintendent was suspended for violation of “conduct rules” and the government has set in motion the process to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.
“After receiving the orders, he was placed under suspension,” Director General of Police K Ramanujam said.

According to the suspension order, disciplinary proceedings were being contemplated against the officer. In addition, the order also said that Kumar should not leave his headquarters without the Principal Home Secretary’s permission.

Police sources said CB-CID police booked a case against the IPS officer for allegedly collecting more than Rs 50 lakh from one of the bookies Mahendar Ranka in return for dropping the case. Later, Kumar surrendered about Rs 30 lakh to the CB-CID, the sources added.

Kumar, in a statement to the Justice Mudgal Committee probing the match fixing issue, alleged that the match fixing angle was not pursued by CB-CID. “I have reasons and evidence to infer that the CB-CID is not trying to uncover the masterminds involved in match fixing. The probe is stalled and being misled on vested interest,” he had told the panel.

He had indicated that some bookies and top players were allegedly in touch and that the 2013 May Jaipur match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals could have been “fixed.”

The Mudgal panel in its report to the Supreme Court said “on the issue of whether (CSK Principal) Gurunath Meiyappan was involved in match fixing and spot fixing, the issue has not been investigated thoroughly by the ICC-ACSU, BCCI’s ACU or the CB-CID of the Chennai Police though some information was available for such an investigation to be conducted.”