CHENNAI: The CB-CID has filed a charge sheet against the suspended IPS officer Sampath Kumar, who initially investigated the IPL bookie scam, on charges of collecting bribe to let off some of the persons involved in the scam.
Sources said the CB-CID filed the charge sheet in the XI metropolitan magistrate court on Friday and Sampath Kumar has been charged under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Along with the police officer, three other bookies have been included as accused in the charge sheet.
The sensational scam in the Indian Premier League tournament was unearthed in 2013 by the Delhi Police and subsequently the Q-branch of the Tamil Nadu police began investigations in the scam involving bookies based in Chennai. Names of several cricket players and then BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son in-law Gurunath Meiyappan were embroiled in the scam.
During this period, Sampath Kumar was investigating the case. However, subsequently the investigations were transferred to CB-CID. The CB-CID alleged that Sampath Kumar during his tenure as investigating officer had collected bribe from a few bookies to suppress involvement of a few persons in the scam. In February 2014, Sampath Kumar was suspended from service.
Sampath had denied the charges saying that he had only taken a loan from one of bookies and he was being targeted for trying to expose CB-CID’s biased probe to shield a few influential persons. When the Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal Committee conducted its inquiry in the IPL betting and match-fixing scam, Sampath Kumar was chosen by the court to assist the investigations.
Now, over a year after the FIR was filed against Sampath Kumar by the CB-CID, the agency has filed its charge sheet against the officer, setting the stage for his trial. In the nearly 100-page charge sheet, three bookies, including one Mahendra Singh Ranka, are included as accused along with Sampath Kumar.