Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar believes ex-India international Sreesanth got away easily after his IPL Spot fixing case which led to the Kerela fast bowler facing a lifetime ban which was reduced to seven years. Kumar expressed that Sreesanth was able to get away with lesser punishment due to the lack of sporting laws in Indi a.
In 2013, S Sreesanth along with 2 other cricketers were arrested on charges of spot fixing in IPL. Playing for the Rajasthan Royals, Sreesanth, Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested by Delhi Police in Mumbai for allegedly fulfilling promises made to bookmakers with eleven bookies.
"The case seemingly didn’t go anywhere…" - Neeraj Kumar
Talking about this case, Former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, as quoted by PTI, said, “The case seemingly didn’t go anywhere…unfortunately, there is no law (in India) to deal with corruption in cricket or corruption in sports in general.”
“So many things that we do, they do not stand test of judicial scrutiny, for instance. If we say, during match-fixing, people were cheated, now the court will ask, show me one person, who is cheated, produce that person in court,” he added.
They didn’t give me the necessary resources: Neeraj Kumar
Kumar further expressed that India needs strict sports laws and cited examples of how other countries have such rigid laws. He claimed if India have these strong laws, then the scenario in the country will change. Kumar even blamed the BCCI for it.
He said, “If we have that law, scenario will change completely, people will not go scot-free. It’s a low-hanging fruit…I don’t know why they are not doing it. They were totally indifferent to the whole matter of corruption and they didn’t give me the necessary resources,” he concluded.