Ex-BCCI watchdog chief Neeraj Kumar sounds the alarm, ‘Corruptors will try and break the cover around Women’s Premier League’

News

• In his book, A Cop in Cricket, former IPS officer, Neeraj Kumar, blows the lid off the private cricket leagues they are ‘held only for the purposes of betting and fixing'
• Neeraj Kumar also pointed towards popular leagues like TNPL and KNPL saying they have ‘many incidences of corruption'
• On the MeToo allegations against the former BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and whether he should have been sacked, Neeraj Kumar very explicitly remarks ‘Well, most certainly’

In his newly released book on corruption in cricket, A Cop in Cricket, the celebrated IPS officer and former Commissioner of Delhi Police Neeraj Kumar, who was also the BCCI’s anti-corruption head, has provided some chilling examples of how players at all levels are approached by bookies. The book also provides some telling insights from Kumar’s experience of working with the BCCI administrators and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators during his tenure from 2015 to 2018.

Kumar spoke to News9 Live after the release of his book.

Excerpts:

From your vast experience of handling match-fixing, spot-fixing and betting, do you think that the sport of cricket at the highest level right now is completely clean?

I wouldn’t say it’s completely clean but it is clean … or I will say the risk of it being corrupted are very, very minimal and within management limits.

In your book you have talked about these private leagues, for example, the Rajputana Cricket League in Jaipur in which every match was fixed, and where before every over the umpires were told how many runs were to be conceded by the bowler. Regarding private leagues and domestic matches and all these tournaments that are being televised right now, what is the kind of risk that they face when it comes to fixing and betting?

The fact is that private leagues are held only for the purposes of betting and fixing. They are telecast or put live on YouTube only for the sake of betting and fixing, and the organisers control the players and every ball of the game and its outcome is decided by the organisers. Even the international anti-corruptions units are amazed at the level of corruption that goes on in our private leagues.

Then how do you stop something like this? Because at the end of the day, there is nothing criminal about these, nothing wrong about these leagues, am I right?

You see, it depends upon how we look at them. Most of the first-class players participate in such leagues, so if they come up through these corrupt leagues and they manage to reach the top, then that means they manage to reach the IPL, various T20 teams or even the national team. So, then what do you expect out of them? Because they have come through a system of corruption where every incident is fixed and people are compromised. To be in such a league you have to pay money and you have to do the bidding with the organisers, so that’s the risk. If I was the BCCI chief, I would keep an eye on all such leagues and if I have found them patently corrupt I would try to disrupt them

What about some of the leagues like the TNPL and KPL?

There have been many incidences of corruption in them and some of them have criminal cases in both leagues. I have talked about some incidents that took place when I was there in the KPL. When we did some investigation we found that the real perpetrators were spread all over the country and that led to a developed pool of informants, and it is through them we were able to reach these private leagues such as Rajputana and Rajwada and managed to disrupt them.

What about the Women’s Premier League starting March 4? We know the kind of money that is involved and that these women are doing this for the first time and it’s a huge moment for women’s cricket in the country. How, then, do you make sure that it remains clean?

We are aware that even in the past women have been approached by corrupters. There have been instances in the past, so we have to be very careful when we are hosting the IPL for women. The anti-corruption regime around the women’s team has to be very, very strong and we have to take every precaution that is possible to prevent it from getting corrupted. My sense is that the corrupters would try to break into the anti-corruption cover around the WPL and they should be very, very careful.

What is the modus operandi of the betters, the match-fixers today? How do they go about it?

There are several modus operandi, right from compromising an individual player to doctoring the pitches, to doctoring the ball and so on and so forth. There are a number of things that can happen. Therefore, I repeat that the anti-corruption regime around the women’s IPL has to be as strong, if not stronger, than what is already prevalent. The anti-corruption education program has to be stronger, and the checks on the PMOA and so on and so forth, it has to be on a different scale.

In the book, you have also mentioned the example of former Zimbabwean captain Heath Streak and the fact that he was banned for eight years by the ICC because he was providing insider information to a bookie. Streak had many roles in international cricket and that’s why this becomes dangerous because here is somebody who represents Zimbabwe Cricket who was there in the IPL as the coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders and yet he was obviously in touch with a bookie.

How do you minimise corruption? How do you keep these players away from these unruly elements?

That is exactly the point, that as soon as we become complacent, we feel that so and so a player who’s an international star is a Rockstar, so he cannot be compromised or that he is beyond corruption. That is where we go wrong. We have to take it for granted that irrespective of how great a cricketer has been or whatever has been his track record, we have to assume that he is likely to be approached or that he is likely to be compromised. Therefore we have to remind him of all the precautions and of the consequences if he accepts any approach or he accepts any gratification from a bookie. Every possible way given in the book has to be followed to make sure that the anti-corruption cover around matches is not breached.

You made some scathing observations about former CoA head Vinod Rai as well as the CEO of BCCI at that time, Rahul Johri…?

Whatever little interactions I had with Vinod Rai, I have no hesitation in saying that I was disappointed because I had expected a lot from him and especially in the job that I was doing, I had expected that we will get all the support from him in fighting corruption in cricket, but he did not show any such interest.

Why do you think Mr Johri had this free hand, which you keep referring to in the book? Because even the MeToo allegations against him weren’t handled the way they should have been. There was an independent committee set up which many believe was farcical because of the way it was set up, how the victims themselves were not given the reports but that Mr Johri got a clean chit and is still asked to undergo gender sensitization. How do you look at that whole incident?

It was not only farcical, it was bizarre the way the commission inquiry was set up and the way it conducted itself, the way its findings were presented, they were leaked even before they were formally made public also. It was quite bizarre.

Should he have been sacked after the MeToo incident?

Well, most certainly.

Did you have conversations with some of the top cricketers about spot-fixing and match-fixing? And if so, without naming anyone, what were the conversations about?

I had many conversations, and I can recall all the conversations which are not mentioned in the book. There was one with Mr Rahul Dravid in Kanpur where I sought time with him and I thought ‘let me pick his brain on this subject’. He was equally concerned because his own sons are in cricket and he heard me out and said that the situation all around is quite terrifying and that he was not sure whether he should let his sons continue to play cricket or not.

I had several chats with our own team also in the anti-corruption education program, and they were all very amenable, they would sit like schoolchildren and hear me out even though I had nothing new to say. Those messages and instructions were given to them almost before every match and yet they would sit in rapt attention and listen to me. I remember once I used the term ‘muscle memory’ in one of these education programs in Sri Lanka. I said just like when you are playing you rely on muscle memory, similarly, you should respond to illicit approaches much in the same way. It should be engraved in your muscle memory that I have received this WhatsApp message or phone call so I must inform the anti-corruption officer. They were all very amused and also very thrilled by the use of the term ‘muscle memory’. I have had many pleasant memories with them and I found each one of them very pleasant and very affable and very friendly and most of all very, very respectful towards me.