Senior IPS Officer G Sampath Kumar who carried out the probe into the sensational 2013 IPL betting case and charged with making pecuniary benefit to let a few off the hook was on Friday acquitted by a special court in Chennai for want of evidence. Acquitting Kumar and three others in the corruption case, Special Judge Om Prakash held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.
The judge also directed the Crime Branch-CID, which investigated the case to return the alleged bribe money seized from the quartet with interest. The case pertained to the investigation carried out by Kumar into the betting and spot fixing scandal that rocked the Indian Premier League T20 tourney in 2013. He was then the Superintendent of Police of the ‘Q’ Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and entrusted with the probe.
Initially a case was registered against Gautham Chand Nimani, Mahaveer Chand, Pappu and Uttam C Jain and others. To bring them out of prosecution in the case, Mahendra Singh Ranga, Nemi Chand and Hira Kumar secured Rs 1.35 lakh from them. Of this, Rs 60 lakh was said to have been paid to Kumar.
A year later he was charged with abusing his authority and official position by collecting Rs 60 lakh from the trio on the promise of saving their accomplices from prosecution. Consequently, he was suspended. However, Kumar had all along maintained that he was implicated in the Naducase so as to silence him from unearthing the scam in its entirety.
Kumar, Charged with offences under Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 384 (extortion) and 420 (cheating) besides 506 (1) (Ccriminal intimidation), of the IPC as well as sections 13(1) (d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
At present, he is posted at the TN Special Police Battalion at Avadi.
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