HC dismisses plea of IPS officer who probed IPL betting

The Madras High Court today dismissed a petition filed by suspended IPS officer G Sampath Kumar, who investigated the 2013 IPL betting case, seeking quashing of a corruption case filed against him for allegedly taking bribe to let off some people involved in the matter.
Justice G Jayachandran dismissed the petition and directed the lower court to complete the trial within six months.
The judge said the sanction order for prosecution, obtained from the state police chief, mentioned material evidences which were incriminating against the petitioner and disclosed prima facie evidence for prosecution.
Kumar investigated the betting and spot-fixing related to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in 2013 as the then Q Branch Superintendent of Police of Tamil Nadu.

A year later, he was booked on the charge of abusing his official position and collecting Rs 1.35 lakh from three people allegedly involved in the scam by promising to save them from prosecution.
Besides cheating and criminal intimidation charges, the officer had been slapped with offences punishable under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In 2015, Kumar claimed that he had been unnecessarily implicated in the case with an "intention of silencing him from probing the IPL betting scandal".