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CBI unfit to probe match-fixing, says former chief

Former chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Joginder Singh said on Friday night that the cricket match-fixing case was not fit to be referred to the Bureau, and doubted whether it would reach the prosecution stage.

Replying to a question on Star News channel, the former CBI Director said that at the most, the government could have set up an inquiry commission, headed by a former or sitting Judge, on the lines of the one formed in Pakistan to look into the allegations. Or otherwise, the BCCI should have inquired into it as going into all these allegations was not the job of the police, he added.

''It is not a fit case to be handed over to the CBI. It is not the job of CBI. It should have been probed by the BCCI or a judicial commission... It will not ever go to the court,'' Joginder Singh said.

He was of the view that it was difficult to prove charges as the players can not be charged for bribing or with criminal conspiracy since they were not public servants. At the most, they can be charged with cheating and gambling, for which the maximum fine was Rs 50,000, he added.

Talking about the charges of bribing against Kapil Dev, Joginder Singh said no offence is made out against him as the match for which the offer was made was not played. And even otherwise, there was hardly any basis in levelling allegations against a person after the passage of more than six years.

He supported the demand for legalising betting in cricket, saying, ''There is no harm in legalising it. Betting is going on and in all fairness, why not accept it? People who have money will definitely bet.'' Such betting was going on in several other games like soccer, he pointed out.

Blaming the cricketers for behaving like school children, he stressed, ''The present phase of allegations and counter-allegations would only bring disrepute to the game.''

On Ravi Shastri's corroborating the bribe offer made by Kapil Dev in 1994, Joginder Singh said it does not prove that the Indian coach approached Prabhakar. Other than Prabhakar's allegation, there was no evidence available to point a finger at Kapil, he argued.

The former CBI chief said nothing could be proved till people come out with confessions or provide concrete evidence on match-fixing. The CBI has not registered a regular case and hence the provisions of the Indian Penal Code would not apply. Only statements could be recorded under certain provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

However, there was also a word of optimism as he said since the matter was being probed by the CBI the truth will come out. It was a different thing whether somebody is proved guilty or not.

Asked whether the Income Tax department should intervene in the matter, he said the investigation in the match-fixing case should be probed from all angles and the Income Tax department should look into the assets of players against whom allegations have been levelled. ''This way, we may come to know of something.''

About the possibility of lie detector tests being carried out on Kapil and Manoj Prabhakar, Joginder Singh said such tests cannot be produced as evidence in the court. At the most it can only be used to corroborate a charge.

He warned people against expecting too much from the CBI as it does not have any magic wand to probe everything. The BCCI should take a lesson from this case and work to ensure that match-fixing does not occur in Indian cricket in future, he suggested.

UNI