Former India cricketer S Sreesanth let off in 2013 IPL spot-fixing case

“The offence in relation to which MCOCA is sought to be invoked, pertains to betting and match-fixing, which… does not fit in any penal statute,” the court said. “All the necessary ingredients to establish a prima facie case under the provisions of MCOCA is not made out,” it said.

“Even if entire evidence of prosecution is accepted, then too it is not established that there exists a core crime syndicate of Dawood [Ibrahim] and Chhota Shakeel who have been indulging in the organised offence of betting and match-fixing and also dealing with money so generated through hawala.

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“The prosecution has not been able to establish that there is any continuing unlawful activity of crime syndicate as it has not been able to meet the requirement of there being more than one FIR in preceding 10 years against the syndicate,” Additional Sessions Judge Neena Bansal Krishna said.

“In the given situation, bound as this court is with the law of the land, it is constrained to conclude that no prima facie case under MCOCA or any other penal statute is disclosed against any of the accused persons, who are all entitled to be discharged,” the court said.

Among the 42 individuals chargesheeted by police were fugitive underworld dons Dawood and Shakeel. The court observed that the “best case”  could have been made under the Public Gambling Act, but that too was “not prima facie established” from the evidence placed on record by the Special Cell.

“The offence of cheating is also not made out prima facie, even if the entire evidence of prosecution is admitted without formal proof,” the court said.

The allegedly incriminating conversation between Sreesanth and his friend Jiju Janardhanan “are innocuous and do not in any manner reveal the conspiracy of fixing the over”, the court observed. “The conversation between  Janardhanan and Sreesanth does not show that Janardhanan had approached Sreesanth for fixing the over or that it was done as a part of activity of crime syndicate run by Dawood and Chhota Shakeel,” it said.

The court also pulled up the police for relying upon Sreesanth’s disclosure statement, which is not admissible under the Indian Evidence Act.

The court said there was no “nexus or link” between the accused and the alleged Pakistan-based bookie Javed Chutani alias ‘Doctor’.

According to the Special Cell, Dawood’s role in the spot-fixing case and his links with the accused cricketers was established by an alleged conversation between alleged bookies Chutani and Tinku Mandi, who were allegedly in touch with Janardhanan.

On Ankeet Chavan, the court said that the allegation that he was “underperforming” did not “amount to cheating as defined under Section 415 IPC.

“The entire evidence against the accused Ankeet, even if admitted, does not make him either a member of Core Crime Syndicate nor is he shown to have committed cheating. Prima facie, no offence is made out against him,” the court said.

Discharging Ajit Chandila, the court said that even if the “evidence” was admitted in “toto”, it “only shows” that Chandila had agreed to underperform, but did not actually do so.

“He is not shown to have cheated anybody since he did not underperform after taking money… Even if it is accepted that Rs 20 lakhs were returned by Ajit Chandila, there cannot be any inference drawn that this was a part of hawala transaction,” the court said.

Emotions ran high in packed courtroom, with the cricketers and their counsel hugging each other as the verdict was passed. Sreesanth, sitting in the last row, broke down. Minutes later, he told The Indian Express, “I would want to thank my parents, the Almighty and my fans. I believed in the justice system. Today I have come out clean. I would now look forward to make a return to the Indian team.”

Chandila said, “I would request the BCCI to revoke the ban, so that we can resume playing representative cricket.”