Chennai: Senior IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar who had deposed before the Mudgal panel that the CB CID police of Tamil Nadu had failed to carry out a proper investigation into allegations of match fixing against senior players like M.S. Dhoni in IPL season 6, was placed under suspension on Friday. An order from home secretary Apurva Varma said the Superintendent of Police (SP), railways, Tiruchy, was placed under suspension pending disciplinary action.
The officer has been ordered not to leave Tiruchy without permission from the home secretary.
The CB CID , for its part has accused Mr Kumar of receiving money himself when he was SP, Q branch, from one of the arrested bookies, Mahendra Singh Ranga.
The officer shot into the limelight after the Mudgal committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the IPL scam, quoted him as saying that senior players of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were involved in match fixing during the last least season. He had claimed that a bookie, Kitty, caught for a passport fraud when he was SP, Q branch in Chennai, had confessed during interrogation that CSK team officials and senior players had fixed a match between the Chennai team and Rajasthan Royals.
The suspension of the officer has come as a surprise to many as the CB CID has been on the defensive of late, battling rumours of being involved in a cover- up with the players and CSK team official Gurunath Meiyappan, son in law of BCCI chief N. Srinivasan.
While the Mudgal report has accused the Tamil Nadu police of failing to investigate the claims of match fixing during the last IPL season, the CB CID, on Friday maintained its investigation into IPL betting was almost complete and the chargesheet would be filed soon.
DSP Venkitraman, who was speaking to reporters, however refused to comment when asked if fresh summons had been issued to Mr Gurunath Meiyappan, hotelier Vikram Agarwal, Mr Vindoo Dara Singh and IPS official, Sampath Kumar on the basis of the panel report.
Although the CB CID had said it would summon Mr Meiyappan after the arrest of Mr Agarwal, it has taken no action in the last eight months.
