IPL is by and large corruption free, says Neeraj Kumar, the retired head of ACU

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been one of the marquee T20 tournaments and the players all over the world are always willing to participate in it. But it was marred with the spot-fixing controversy in 2013 which sent shock waves right through the cricketing fraternity.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise were suspended for a couple of years after their owners were found to have involved with the bookies. However, the head of the Anti Corruption Unit Neeraj Kumar feels that the tournament is now corruption free.

Neeraj Kumar retired from the helm on Thursday after working with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for almost three years. But he was disappointed with the fact that the cricket boards are still not serious about the corruption in the game and only half-measures are being taken.

Can’t deny a hanky-panky in IPL

In an interview to Times of India, Neeraj Kumar cleared that there is no corruption in the cash-rich T20 league but also believed that it is vulnerable to the same given the stakes involved. “It is by and large corruption free. Again, because something has not come to our notice, we cannot claim that nothing hanky-panky has happened. Because it is a high-stakes tournament, it is that much more vulnerable to corruption,” he said.

He was also of the opinion that the BCCI needs to strengthen the ACU as there are only three men working from last three years. “I have already mentioned about the BCCI in my email (to board CEO Rahul Johri), which is in the public domain. The staff has remained the same from the day I joined to the day I left. Nobody wants to know what it (the ACU) is doing. It is just there, ticks a box. I won’t say the BCCI is not serious about eliminating corruption but the ACU needs to be strengthened,” he added.

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