To combat corruption in sports, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is planning to set up a specialised unit to tackle cases of sports fraud.
On the first day of the two-day FIFA-Interpol national workshop that started here Wednesday, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said the investigating agency has taken note of the increasing cases of corruption in Indian sports.
However, he said there is a lack of legal framework, which is the main hurdle in probing corruption in sports.
Sinha said the CBI would soon set up a sports fraud investigation unit under special crime branch to investigate sports fraud, match fixing and illegal betting.
"We, in CBI, have taken due notice of growing menace of corruption in sports in general and challenges in football and other sports in particular ... Very soon, we shall set up a sports fraud investigation unit in the CBI under special crime branch," Sinha said in his keynote address.
He said the CBI would act as resource base and help other agencies to train and educate them on the menace of corruption in sports once the agency gets its capabilities in place.
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Highlighting the instances of match fixing, Sinha, in his address, said corruption in sports are financed and managed to a very large extent by the betting industry, both legal and illegal, with close links with worldwide crime syndicates.
"It will coordinate with other law enforcement agencies of the world and act as a nodal agency to coordinate with states' police forces. It shall be our endeavour to liaise and coordinate with sports federations to build capabilities to tackle match fixing and corrupt practices," he said.
Sinha said the sports ministry is also in the final stages of drafting a law to tackle corruption in sports and it will help the law enforcement agencies to prosecute the guilty.
The seminar on "Tackling Match Fixing and Corruption in Football" is part of an endeavour of world football body FIFA and the Interpol, the world's largest police organisation, to train and educate member associations about preventive initiative.
Besides representatives from the FIFA, the Interpol and the CBI, the workshop was also attended by representatives from the Delhi Police and the Mumbai Police, that unearthed the match-fixing and betting scandal in the Indian Premier League last year.
The International Cricket Council was also represented by its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) chief Yogendra Pal Singh, a former CBI officer. The Board of Control for Cricket in India's ACSU chief Ravi Sawani was also present.