The shelved National Sports Development Bill "seems to be back in the limelight," with the "drama involving the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian Premier League," according to Kavita Chowdhury of the Indian BUSINESS STANDARD. Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, while condemning the "shameful" incidents that had overtaken the game, urged for "greater transparency" in sports and related bodies. He said the sports Bill was being revisited to inject "transparency" into sports and sports associations. The Bill "seeks to put in place compulsory elections," 25% representation of sportsmen in exec committees, an ethics committee in line with the Ethics Code of the IOC, a sports Dispute Appellate Tribunal and, most important, it will work toward keeping out conflict of interest (BUSINESS STANDARD, 6/7). The PTI reported "the Delhi Police has written to the Enforcement Directorate for a probe into alleged hawala transactions in the IPL spot-fixing case, including by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim." A senior police official said that "details have been provided to ED about 27 people arrested in connection with the scandal as well as that about Dawood and Chota Shakeel." He said, "We have written to ED. There has been hawala transactions not alone in India but abroad also like in Karachi and Dubai in connection with the case. They (ED) have the expertise in investigating this angle." He said establishing the money trail in the case is "very important" (PTI, 6/9). The PTI also reported Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said that "it is acutally time to weed out some 'bad' players from the sport." The 59-year-old, who has been engaged in several high-profile cases in his career spanning more than three decades, "feels that the spot-fixing scandal was a murder of faith of millions of cricket lovers" (PTI, 6/9). In another piece the PTI reported Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor said that "the arrest of Kerala pacer S. Sreesanth for alleged spot-fixing is 'very painful' for cricket fans in the state" (PTI, 6/9). IANS reported West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin "has pleaded not guilty to a charge of misconduct" laid by the Int'l Cricket Council, "following his claim for a catch during the Caribbean side’s two-wicket win over Pakistan" (IANS, 6/9).
