It noted that the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction was truer in the case of cricket than in any other sport and that the only predictable thing about a cricket match was its unpredictability. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A court in this city has ordered that charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating be filed against four persons accused of fixing international cricket matches between India and South Africa in 2000.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Priya was hearing the case against Rajesh Kalra, Krishan Kumar, Sunil Dara and Sanjeev Chawla. Chanakaya Puri police station had registered a case against them.
The court considered the evidence and found that the “series of events, accounts of conversations, conduct and circumstances” showed that Kalra, Kumar and Dara were complicit in the deals made by Chawla with Hansie Cronje (deceased and also a suspect) and led to the “conclusion that they acted in collusion and were complicit in the main purpose of influencing cricket matches for financial gain.”
In an order dated July 11, the court held that there was sufficient material on record to frame charges against the four accused under Section 420 (cheating) read with Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and for the offence under Section 120 B of the Penal Code.
The material showed that “serious suspicions existed against each of them for their role in the criminal conspiracy to defraud and dishonestly extort property from spectators and the BCCI during the Test matches and One Day International (ODI) cricket matches held in India between South Africa and India from 19 February to 19 March 2000”.
“The charge must be formulated accordingly,” the court said.
In the 68-page order, the court said the conversation details and recordings showed the suspects were in constant contact with each other and discussed various aspects of match-fixing and betting.
“The transcripts of their intercepted telephone conversations show that during that time they discussed the composition of the team for the next match in a series of matches between South Africa and India (based on information received by accused Sanjeev Chawla from accused Hansie Cronje); the fixed team scores/individual scores agreed with accused Hansie Cronje; the amount to be wagered on bets; the pooling of sums of money; their chances if the players did not perform according to the agreed plan; money transactions during betting/match-fixing, etc.,” the court said.
It has been noted that the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction applies more to cricket than to any other sport, and that the only predictable thing about a cricket match is its unpredictability.
“One of the reasons for the astonishing popularity of cricket is in fact the element of uncertainty and the lack of predictability of the results, even by the experts. If this aspect of the game is taken out of the equation and if the spectators know that the outcome is already decided, there would be zero interest in watching the match,” the court said.
“For personal financial gain, suspect no. 6 Hansie Cronje (in collusion with the accused persons) allegedly manipulated the matches, disrupted the natural course of the match and still participated in the matches as captain of the rival team, while concealing this,” the court said.
Regarding the argument of the defendant’s counsel that match-fixing is not punishable in the country, the court said: “If the alleged acts of match-fixing meet the elements of the criminal offence under Article 420 of the Criminal Code, then such acts cannot escape the clutches of the said law unless there is a special law.”
“In other words, the question before the court is not whether match-fixing is a criminal offence in India, but whether on the present balance of facts the allegations (of match-fixing) in the indictment amount to an offence under Section 420 of the Penal Code?” it added.
The court also found that the material available showed that Cronje and Chawla “pre-recorded individual and team scores of upcoming cricket matches” and that Cronje “provided sensitive information about the pitch and team composition”.
It said that Cronje “actively involved team members and induced them to perform as per the pre-determined scores (as agreed with accused Sanjeev Chawla) by offering them money” and that he also decided the payment that Chawla would make to him and the other players for “manipulating the outcome of the cricket matches by agreeing to an underplay strategy and inducing his teammates to adopt an underplay strategy.”
Chawla also shared this information with other suspects who gambled on cricket matches, the court said.
“As agreed between accused Nos. 4 (Chawla) and 6 (Cronje), South Africa scored not more than 250 runs in each innings of the first Test match and lost the first ODI match in Cochin,” it added.
The case was posted for further hearing on July 31.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: Jul 13, 2024 | 7:36 PM IST
