SC panel raps Mumbai police for not probing Dawood angle

A Supreme Court panel, inquiring into the IPL spot fixing scam, has come down heavily on Mumbai police for ‘not willing’ to investigate involvement of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in it and for protecting ‘lots of persons’ involved in the betting syndicate.

Probe by Mumbai police in the scandal was sharply cricised by a three-member apex court panel headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court chief justice Mukul Mudgal and raised questions on why police allowed a Pakistani umpire to leave the country when it knew about his involvement in the scam.

‘Mumbai police admitted that protection by the underworld is essential to run the organised betting syndicate in Mumbai. The police failed to inform the panel as to which gang give this protection to the betting operation,’ the report said.

‘There is therefore cause for a distinct impression that for reasons not satisfactorily explained, the Mumbai police was not willing to investigate the involvement of Dawood Ibrahim in the betting racket,’ the report of Nilay Dutta, one of the member of the panel, said.

He said that Mumbai police was aware of proposed fixing between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians three days before the match was played on May 15 last year through intercepted calls of Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf but it did not take any action against him.

‘Rauf was never detained by Mumbai Police and was allowed to leave the country on 19 May after completing his assignments. Even a discreet look out notice was not issued in the name of Rauf,’ the panel report said.

‘The extreme reluctance to address the issue of involvement of Dawood Ibrahim and the curious failure of Mumbai police to detain Rauf, a Pakistani umpire, indicates possibilities which require further investigation, keeping in mind the recent disclosure by the Union home minister that Dawood is presently based in Pakistan,’ the report, submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday, said.