The spot-fixing/betting investigation "that started with a bang and rocked the cricket world seems to have fizzled out, if the long silence of Delhi and Mumbai Police investigators is anything to go by," according to Anand, Panigrahi & Thaver of the HINDUSTAN TIMES. On Wednesday, "the Delhi Police hit another legal roadblock." A city court said that the special cell had failed to justify slapping the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act -- usually reserved for gangsters -- on the accused, "especially after having failed to establish a tangible money trail." Investigators "within the force agreed." An officer said, "Instead of arresting the three players merely on the basis of intercepted conversations, they should have moved in and caught them accepting payment red-handed" (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 6/13). IANS reported former Board of Control for Cricket in India President Inderjit Singh Bindra "has taken exception to the board imposing severe restrictions on players and by inference blaming them for all the ills in Indian cricket." Bindra is particularly unhappy with the way his friend, BCCI interim CEO Jagmohan Dalmiya "tried to find fault with only the players for all the untoward happenings in the Indian Premier League." Bindra wrote in his blog, "I observed that we should not give the impression that the players are solely responsible for all malefactions and corruption in the game. I suggested that we should start the clean-up operations at the very top and the Administrators should set the example by agreeing for public probity, thus standing up for ethical behaviour and higher moral standards" (IANS, 6/13).
ANOTHER ARREST: In Chennai, Shubhomoy Sikdar wrote Feroz -- "a bookie who was allegedly in touch with members of the underworld based in Dubai and Karachi and served as a connecting link between them and other bookies based in India" -- has been arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in connection with the IPL spot-fixing case (THE HINDU, 6/13).
WOMEN'S CRICKET: The PTI reported an inquiry committee formed by the Pakistan Cricket Board to probe allegations of sexual harassment made by some women players of the Multan region "has completed its proceedings." Ayesha Ashar, who headed the inquiry committee, said, "I can't say here what our findings are but we took this matter very seriously because when women's cricket is still developing in Pakistan such allegations will only discourage girls from taking to the game" (PTI, 6/13).
