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Journalism of Courage
* The police arrested alleged bookie Chand Prakash Jain alias Jupiter (35) on Sunday,a little over two months after the special cell claimed to have busted a spot-fixing racket with the arrest of three cricketers and several bookies. Jupiter’s name had come up in the conversations intercepted by the special cell between Ramesh Vyas and a D gang member Master alias Salman. The Delhi Police and the Mumbai Police have been on the lookout for Jupiter since the case broke out in May this year. Police claimed that Jupiter was a close associate of Ramesh Vyas who along with his associates Ashwini Aggarwal alias Tinku Mandi contacted players to underperform in this year’s IPL. Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S N Shrivastava claimed that Jupiter,who was on the run,was arrested from Jaipur on Sunday. The police claimed Jupiter had been hiding at a hotel there for two weeks. Explaining Jupiter’s role as a bookie,the police claimed that he had left Jaipur in 2007 to join a construction firm with his father’s friend Ram Babu,who was into construction and also a punter. It was then that Jupiter met Mumbai-based bookie Ramesh Vyas,whom the police have alleged was directly coordinating with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Vyas was arrested by the Mumbai Police on allegations of heavy betting during the IPL. The police said that there were numerous references to Jupiter made by alleged bookies in their conversation. In their chargesheet,they have attached the transcripts of several conversations made by Vyas with Salman in Pakistan,where Jupiter’s name has cropped up several times. (ENS)
I am a cricketer and not a terrorist: Chandila
* Claiming innocence,tainted Rajasthan Royals spinner Ajit Chandila has said that the Delhi Polices proposed move to slap the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against him is completely unfair as he is a cricketer and not a terrorist. Chandila,who was granted an interim bail for two days (from August 3 to 5) to participate in the last rites of his elder brother,was optimistic that he will come out clean of the spot-fixing charges levelled against him. I dreamt of becoming a good cricketer,and to an extent I achieved that. But a tragedy struck and my dreams were shattered. People have seen my performance in last two seasons of the IPL. I am clean and I trust the judiciary, Chandila told Zee News after coming out on interim bail. Chandila said his family and he were in a state of shock after learning that the MCOCA might be levelled against him. My family and I are in a state of shock that such charges are being levelled against me. I am a cricketer not a terrorist, he said.
BCCI appeals HC order terming IPL probe illegal
* The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) moved the Supreme Court on Monday,challenging the Bombay High Court’s order,condemning its IPL probe panel as “illegal and unconstitutional.” Claiming that the panel was constituted in accordance with well-settled legal norms and also as per the BCCI rules,the Board demanded a stay on the High Court’s ruling. It said that the High Court order was erroneous,for it should not have entertained a PIL on the issue with no allegation of anybody’s fundamental rights. The probe panel,comprising former judges T Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian,had given a clean chit to BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-promoter Raj Kundra in the spot fixing and betting scandal,paving the way for Srinivasan’s return to the board. However, the High Court had on July 30 held that the two member-commission was constituted in violation of the rules framed by the BCCI. After the last meeting on August 2,the BCCI had decided to move the apex court to challenge the High Court verdict that came in the way of Srinivasan getting reinstated as cricketing body’s head. (ENS)
