Police not bound to honour request

The Mumbai crime branch said on Sunday that it was not legally bound to honour the letter sent by the BCCI requesting it to send the investigating officer (IO) in the T20 betting case to depose before the two-judge panel probing the spot-fixing scandal in the IPL. Rahul Mahajani reports.

The Mumbai crime branch said on Sunday that it was not legally bound to honour the letter sent by the BCCI requesting it to send the investigating officer (IO) in the T20 betting case to depose before the two-judge panel probing the spot-fixing scandal in the IPL.

The BCCI wanted the crime branch to explain the role of Gurunath Meiyappan, team principal of the Chennai Super Kings, whom it had arrested. The Board had asked the crime branch to send the IO, who had interrogated Meiyappan, to Bangalore on July 14 to depose before the panel.

Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (crime), told HT that the BCCI had sent a letter asking for the IO to depose before the panel. "We wrote back asking the BCCI to explain the legal provision under which such a deposition can take place. It's been a month but they are yet to get back," he said.

Yet to startSources in the crime branch said the trial in the case is yet to commence and if something (technicalities) goes wrong, the crime branch could be pulled up by the court for making the IO depose before a panel appointed by a private body like the BCCI. The chargesheet in the case is likely to be filed soon, sources added.

The crime branch arrested Meiyappan on May 24 for allegedly placing bets through actor Vindoo Dara Singh. Crime branch sources said their case against Meiyappan was related to betting and not spot-fixing.