A law minister as accused. That seems strange. It is not fiction but a reality and that is
happening in Indian state of Goa.
The law minister and seven others would be formally charged on April 27 and have been
asked to be present in the court on that date.
In the intervening period the eight can prefer to file a revision petition before the High
Court in Panjim, against the order of the Judicial Magistrate First Class Ashley Norohna,
Margao in South Goa, which has passed an order for framing of charges against the
eight persons one of them the Goa law minister.
The current law minister in the state cabinet, and also holding the office of the vice
president of the Board of cricket control in India (BCCI) and Goa cricket association
president is in the dock. Dayanand Narvekar along with seven others will stand trail in
case dating to 2001.
Goa gained notoriety in 2001, in the cricketing world for a fake ticket scandal as the state
hosted the final and deciding match of the one-day international cricket series between
hosts India and Australia in the picturesque state of Goa.
The eight include the law minister Dayanand Narvekar, and the seven others are Rama
Shankardas, Vinod Phadke, ticket contractor Chinmay Fallari, Venkatesh Dessai,
Devdutt Fallari, Joaquim Pires, Gajanan Bhise and Eknath Naik.
The eight will face charges for offences ranging from cheating, forgery, forgery for the
purpose of cheating, using as genuine a forged document, causing disappearance of
evidence of an offence committed, besides criminal conspiracy.
Amongst a host of charges, the police has alleged that Narvekar, Ramnath Shankardas
and Phadke, being members of the GCA tender committee allegedly conspired with
ticket contractor, Chinmay Fallari.
The charge sheet says that the trio along the ticket contractor conspired for sale of
tickets by alleged manipulation in the tender of the One Day International cricket match
and awarded the contract to Chinmay for Rs 68 lakh, for alleged consideration.
The wait was for long.
Rewind to April 6, 2001, and we have completed six years of the infamous incident. The
’cricket ticket gate’ scandal which hit Goa on this day, as the state hosted the final and
deciding match of the one-day international cricket series between hosts India and
Australia in the picturesque state of Goa.
India lost the match and the series, Goa lost its face on account of the fake ticket scam
which rocked the match. Around 15,000 Spectators who had valid tickets were turned
away from the gates by the security personnel in the 30,000 capacity stadium which was
already packed to its capacity. They were cane charged by the police to drive them
away.
Come back to April 4, 2007 and we find that the Judicial Magistrate First Class Ashley
Norohna, Margao in south Goa has ordered framing of criminal charges against
Narvekar and seven others.
Justice delayed is justice denied, is the parlance I came across regularly during my two
years of law studies at Govind Ramnath Kare college of Law, Margao in South Goa, in
the western state of India.
That was in the early 90’s. No drastic changes have taken in the intervening years in the
legal field to ignore the delay factor.
But delay in disposing the back log of cases- both civil and criminal cases- in a vast
country like India, has been one of the lucane the legal system has been trying to rectify
through several measures across the country.
The charge sheet by Margao police was filed on July 5, 2001. The police in support of its
case have cited around 220 witnesses and the charge sheet runs into around 550
pages.
In 2001, The state government then headed by the ruling Bharitya Janata Party(BJP)
government had set up a Pendse commission headed by a retired judge of the high
court to go into the reasons for the April 6 2001 fiasco and accordingly suggest steps.
The Pendse commission had recommended a few steps and passed a few strictures
against the GCA. The report, which was then accepted in Toto by the then BJP led
government. But after the congress government came to power the first thing they did
was to overturn the earlier cabinet decision. The commission report was overturned by
the cabinet in its first meetings after the congress came to power
The BCCI then secretary S S Lele on its part had promised to institute a probe into the
incident but nothing came out of.
Opposition Leader of the state, Manohar Parrikar has demanded that the Chief Minister
Pratapsing Rane should drop Law Minister Dayanand Narvekar from the ministry as the
court has ordered framing of criminal charges against him in the infamous Cricket gate
scam.
Addressing a press conference, Parrikar, said “We don’t expect Narvekar to resign on
this issue” adding that the history of the law minister is well known. The chief minister
should act and remove Narvekar from the ministry if he (Mr Rane) wants to cleanse the
ministry and party of such persons, he has demanded, the Herald newspaper has
reported.
But Narvekar has shot back “Mr Parrikar should know that after charges are framed,
evidence starts and thereafter, the verdict comes,” he has been quoted in the Goan daily
Navhind times
Narvekar adds, “when the Congress came to power in the state I using my influence
could have postponed the matter, influenced the judiciary, or even got the case dropped
by the government. However, as I had full faith in the judiciary, I pursued the matter
vigorously to finish the arguments,” he says.
This is the first time there is a ray of hope. The last six years has seen endless delays
over submission of arguments by the accused and the prosecution.
While the spectators of the April 6, 2001 went home carrying injuries from Police lathis
(sticks) charge, they are hoping against hope that persons who forced upon them the
sufferings and cheated them are quickly punished before the law.
They have waited for long. Hopefully the wait will come to an end. As the prosecution
hear the submission of the 220 witnesses and hear arguments and counter arguments
from the prosecution and accused lawyers over the next few months.
Match fixing is back again to haunt the image of the so-called gentleman's game. The
controversy which led to lifetime bans of captains from India, South Africa and Pakistan
is again in the news.
The Jamaican police's delay in pinpointing the causes of the events leading to the death
of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer has added more mystery to the affair surrounding the
world cup, a cup which has lost much of its sheen with the early exit of the two sub-
continent giants.
Various theories revolve around the suspected murder of the English-born Woolmer in
the West Indies. One revolves around the boogie of match fixing and the role of the
underworld in his death. The sooner the mystery leading to the death of the coach is
solved the better. The game does need to clean its image from the blot which threatens
to besmirch the all-whites the Test players wear on the cricket field.
The cricketing world is in a desolate mood. The drooping faces of the Asian sub-
continent cricketers from India and Pakistan shown in newspapers told
the entire story.
The early exist of the two super powers from the world cup 2007 in the West Indies has
been painful not just for the cricketers but for the millions of fans back home. The
countless prayers and good wishes prior to the world cup have all gone down the drain.
The news that matches had been fixed has been a blow to many die-hard sub-continent
fans for whom cricket is a religion. The death of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer has
added to the compounding of sorrows to the Pakistani team and its supporters. A death
which cut across national boundaries and Indians too have shed tears for the much
acclaimed coach.
Additionally, the ghost of match fixing has come back to haunt gentleman’s game and
the Pakistan team. The early exit of the two Asian giants has also added to the loss in
revenues for segments of the industry.
With the Indian team’s early ouster, advertising industry has been the worst hit.
Sponsors and advertisers are withdrawing their cricket-centric publicity campaigns.
According to industry insiders Pepsi, Hutch, Hero Honda and LG have been the worst hit
as they had to take off their big marketing campaigns planned around the World Cup.
International Cricket Council (ICC) started the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) seven years
back. The need for a squad was necessitated as the ugly side of match fixing raise its
ugly head during the time for the first time and threaten to rock the very foundation of
cricket.
The squad continues with its task, but in a different way in the present day. Each of the
Test match and one dayers are probed by it to avoid the repeat of the past. A past which
resulted in the life bans for South Africa captain Hansie Cronje and the skippers of India
and Pakistan, Mohammad Azharrudin and Salim Malik respectively
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has a greater
role to play in the current world cup post Woolmer death. It is now helping the Jamaican
police regarding the mysterious death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer.
Lord Paul Condon, the then former head of London’s Metropolitan Police, was appointed
to head up the unit - a post he still holds. The ACU’s chief investigator Jeff Rees, is also
a former Met officer. He was joined by fellow former police and security officials from
around the world which investigated the match fixing scenario.
Betting is still illegal in Indian and Pakistan and a huge industry. The nerve centre of
cricket betting lay in the economical nerve of India - Mumbai while when small time
bookies operate from elsewhere in India. Bookies operate also from the major cities of
Pakistan.
The ICC on its part have banned mobile phones dressing-rooms and players from all
nations are warned about the dangers of talking to bookmakers.
But recent assertions by England captain Michael Vaughan and South African captain
Graeme Smith that match fixing goes on, is another lead for the anti corruption unit of
ICC to look from closer quarters.
In January 21, this year, West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels was accursed of giving
out team information to a known bookmaker prior to the first one-day international
against India in Nagpur.
Further a high ranking Pakistan official has said that is not necessary to fix an entire
match but a player can earn a few mega bucks agreeing to bowl a certain number of
wide balls in an innings. This has given rise to fears that bowlers may be tempted to
bowl many wides or no-balls in return for a large pay-off.
But the sadness and madness in both the countries has defied logical thinking and
rational mind. Indian fans have taken their own lives. Life is certainly precious, than
losing and winning. Losing and winning is part of the game. Losing one lifes for the
sdake of the game is not a sacrifice but an act of foolishness.
Hopefully, the mysteries surrounding the death of Bob Woolmer get cleared in the
coming days and many who were close to him and his family have peace of mind of the
law enforcing agencies have go track of his killers.
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