IPL betting probe takes an interesting turn, chargesheets filed against 2 ED officials

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed charge sheets against JP Yadav, who was the former Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate, for alleged corruption in the IPL betting probe initiated by the Ahmedabad unit.

The other big fish accused of corruption in the IPL betting probe is Sanjay Kumar, who was the 2000-batch Indian Revenue Service officer of the customs and excise wing and former Additional Director. Both Sanjay Kumar and JP Yadav were arrested in February, along with two bookies Bimal Aggarwal and Chandresh Patel. They are under judicial custody presently.

The duo has been charged with Prevention of Corruption Act with criminal conspiracy under the IPC. Sonu Jalan, J K Arora, Dhruv Kumar Singh, Jayesh Thakkar, Paresh Patel and Surinder Mandi are the other prominent names accused in the betting syndicate according to CBI. According to CBI officials, Few members of the Enforcement Directorate were involved in bribery case who were under investigation of the case. As a result, they have accepted a huge amount of money from the accused.

“It has been alleged that certain officers of the Enforcement Directorate while investigating the cases of money laundering in betting and other such activities have allegedly demanded and accepted huge illegal gratification from the accused and suspect persons in the cases,” quoting a CBI official according to sayings by The Times of India. The CBI source further augmented that the case was filed in 2015 in the aftermath of a complaint lodged from the Directorate.

It was apparent that ED’s Ahmedabad unit was investigating the Rs 2,000-crore betting scandal in T20 cricket league IPL. In addition, they were also examining the Rs 5,000-crore money laundering case against alleged hawala operator Afroz Fatta. A whopping amount of  Rs 15 crore was handed over as a bribe to Singh’s father-in-law, SKS Somvanshi, who is a retired Indian Revenue Service officer from 1978 batch.