Ajit Singh Shekhawat, head of the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit, on Tuesday suggested framing rules related to match fixing and legalizing betting to tackle the problem of corruption in Indian cricket. Shekhawat, who was the Director General of Rajasthan Police before joining the Anti-Corruption Unit of BCCI in April 2018, made these suggestions in an interview to PTI.
Shekhawat suggested this after complain about the corrupt contact of 12 cricketers including national and international cricketers in the past year, the speculation of fixing in Tamil Nadu Premier League and a bookie contacting female cricketer.
Given the cases of fixing that have emerged from the leagues of Mumbai, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu this year, has it really become impossible to stop match fixing or spot fixing in the country? In response to this question, Shekhawat said that it is not impossible to stop it. It probably needs a law against it. If there is a clear law against it, then the role of the police will also be clear.
Last year, the Law Commission of India had emphasized the need to make match fixing a criminal activity like England and Australia. Shekhawat said that legalizing betting is also another way to tackle corruption in sports. He said that betting could be considered legalized. So that all the illegal activities that are taking place can be controlled. Legitimate betting is subject to certain parameters and can be controlled.
Shekhawat, who is the retired officer of the Indian Police Service said that this would give the government a huge amount of revenue, which the Excise Department receives. The amount betting on sports is huge. Shekhawat said that such a step can be monitored by the people associated with it as well as money.
“Revenue is not the only consideration, there could be other issues which the government has in mind. I am not saying categorically that it should be legalised but it should be considered. It could be regulated when it is legalised, right now it is totally illegal.
“Once it is legalised you will also get the data on who is betting and how much is he betting. And while doing that, make illegal betting tougher. Right now you can get away with a fine of few hundreds or a few thousands,” Shekhawat said.
