ON CONTINUING FAKE CRICKET WORLDWIDE

Should it be acceptable to us as a civilized society?

Atul Kumar

The following documents are being released to the Press/Media:

a) A copy of my letter dated 7/7/2018 addressed to Prime Minister of India with a copy to others on the subject of total inaction by Union of India on on-going massive public fraud through a game of cricket

b) A copy of my email dated 13/7/2018 sent to COA and CEO/BCCI, detailing suggestions to deal with the monster of fixing in Cricket prior to meeting with them at New Delhi on 17/7/2018.

c) A copy of my email dated 29/8/2018 sent to COA, CEO and Head of ACU/BCCI, and ACSU/ICC, with copies to my co-petitioner and eminent writer and journalist Mr Shantanu Guha Ray and cricket journalist Mr Bipin Dani.

d) A copy of my email dated 11/9/2018 sent to COA and Head of ACU/BCCI, and ACSU/ICC.

e) A copy of my letter dated 13/9/18 inviting the media for this Press Meet.

There has not been any meaningful response to the above by any of the concerned authorities so far. The above documents along with references made therein are self-explanatory. These bring out the well-established fact of massive fraud through Cricket that continues unabated. Total inaction by Govt of India, PMO, MHA, and PM Modi still is most appalling and totally exposes the present government on their claim of zero tolerance against corruption.

Whether Cricket is a massive fraud or not, is not a question anymore. That it so lies scientifically and logically established and unchallenged for a few years now, and of late it lies vindicated legally at a platform not less than Supreme Court of India thru a PIL (WP 1163/2017) by piecing together and placing before the Hon’ble Court the existing invincible evidence. That the evidence that was placed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court was invincible gets borne out by the fact that not a word was uttered or submitted by the respondents, BCCI and UOI, to counter the averments made in the petition that clearly brought out that cricket was thoroughly and institutionally fixed.

Not only that, after the Hon’ble Court vide its order dated 7/5/18 asked the Committee of Administrators (COA) for BCCI to submit a report on the petition, even the COA acknowledged that extremely important issues had been raised in the petition and called for our suggestions to deal with the scourge of fixing before they along with other BCCI officials held a meeting with us on 17/7/2018 on the subject.

More than four months have gone by since the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order and COA have yet to submit their report, to the best of my knowledge. They have, however, assured that a copy of the report when submitted will be given to me also.

Despite all above developments, the Fraudulent and Fake Cricket is continuing as it has been for years or decades. Major serious implications of the continuance of such fraudulent cricket are detailed below once again for better comprehension of all concerned:

1. Of late many fraudulent babas/dharamgurus (of various religions) have come to light, the latest being one Aashu Bhai alias Asif Khan. They defraud a section of people – a few thousand, maybe a few lakhs in some cases through fake claims. Media highlights such cases a lot to make people aware. By promoting/selling fake and scripted cricket as a competitive sport, the cricket experts, the cricketers, the commentators, and cricket journalists – hundreds of them – have been defrauding not lakhs, not crores, but tens of crores of people across the world for many years now. But the masses are still unaware and these tens of crores of cricket fans continue to be cheated – made to regard scripted and fake matches as competitive ones.

2. We are much bothered about drug addiction and drug trafficking, and rightly so. The scripted and fixed cricket, especially with mushrooming T 20 leagues all over the world, is designed to addict masses to betting and then loot them. This is also a matter of record. Law Commission of India itself has acknowledged that a parallel black economy runs in India through cricket betting. That big is the vice/evil/problem. From the data available it can be safely estimated that people in India alone lose lakhs of crores of rupees per year to the betting syndicates. They are not only moneyed people, but the majority of them are from lower rungs of the society. And in number, they are a few crores, again from available data. The fact of a very large population being first addicted and then looted through fixed cricket was also well brought out in our submissions to the Hon’ble Court. Unfortunately, no authority or no one has come forward to their help yet and they, crores of people, remain ignorant about how they are exploited through fake and fraudulent cricket.

3. Next, to what use the lakhs of crores of rupees earned by betting syndicates per year from India and more from other countries get put to? A chunk, how big is it – is a matter of investigations, is used for terror activities – again a matter of official record. Since the betting syndicates are known to be operating from Pakistan and the Middle East, it may not be wrong to assume that a substantial chunk of this money goes to terror funding in Kashmir. It is really strange that while we are rightly concerned a lot about frequent terror attacks in Kashmir, no one is concerned about a plausible big source of funding for those terrorist activities.

4. It is a big fad among us Indians to indulge in anti-Pakistan rhetoric. With both India and Pakistan playing fixed cricket matches for years (it is a foregone conclusion), doesn’t it become clear that the projected enmity between the two countries is non-existent, a very big international political fraud, practised to keep gullible masses in the two countries fooled and engaged in a mental state of enmity forgetting own miserable plight? Scores of braves and defence personnel on both sides continue to lose their lives to keep the façade of enmity going. Certainly, enemies can’t play fixed cricket matches. No belief or claim can over-shadow common-sense and its application.

In light of above Government of India becomes liable to answer the following:

1. How and why is it so that a government that doesn’t leave any opportunity to flaunt its zero tolerance against corruption acts totally deaf and dumb for years when a massive on-going public fraud worth lakhs of crores of rupees per year and greatly harming the nation and its people is brought to its notice repeatedly?

2. Does the government and PM of India really think that a nation ignorantly continuing to celebrate the biggest proven fraud on earth be great ever?

3. Is it not a reality that Vijay Mallyas, Lalit Modis, and Neerav Modis are no aberrations, but the present government takes pride in ensuring protection and safe havens for all big-time fraudsters and looters?

4. How is it that a government that loudly claims to be concerned a lot for masses and well-being of people at large happily allows crores of people to be defrauded by a few hundreds or thousands of fraudsters with full knowledge?

5. When the VVIP’s and top celebrities of society combine to indulge in a massive crime at the cost of common man, does that crime become a prayer or social service just because it is being committed by hundreds of VVIP’s and top celebrities combined?

6. Why do all law forcing agencies of India to sleep even when someone (the twitter handle @theDcricket ) openly and brazenly flaunts his total inside knowledge about a massive on-going fraud and even after specific complaints having been made and their attention is drawn in that regard? How is such a deplorable state of affairs supported by the government of India and the Indian bureaucracy?

7. Why is the government of India coolly facilitating big-time funding for terrorist activities in Kashmir through fake, fixed, and fraudulent cricket?

8. Is not the government of India responsible, much more than Pakistan or terrorists themselves, for the killing of innocent civilians and defence personnel in Kashmir through terror strikes and stone pelting; since it has been facilitating funding for same?

ICC and BCCI become liable to answer the following questions:

1. What is the purpose for the existence of ACSU and ACU respectively? When cricket itself is an institutional fraud being managed by ICC and BCCI and other cricket boards as such, why the farce and sham of in-house anti-corruption bodies? Is it not that public money is wasted on and through these units to keep the public fooled that the cricket administration was bothered about fixing and corruption? While in fact the top cricket administration in the world itself managed and oversaw this massive fraud which just couldn’t exist as it does without their knowledge and connivance?

2. ICC and BCCI may continue to run cricket as it is for entertainment of the masses, but shouldn’t they inform the masses through captions such as ‘the match is a scripted match purely for entertainment, and one should bet on the match at own risk keeping that in mind’ or ‘the match may be a scripted match purely for entertainment, and one should bet on the match at own risk keeping that in mind’ when matches are played under their administration? Won’t that ensure that Cricket is no more a fraud and protect the tens of millions of people across the world from being defrauded?

Recently while reporting on Kerala Nun Rape Case, a prominent English News Channel displayed ‘The System Closes Ranks’ as a headline. Doesn’t a continuation of fake cricket even after lying conspicuously exposed mean that everyone has closed ranks behind this massive fraud? Should it be acceptable to us as a civilized society?

I hope and urge media to take pains to ask above and other due questions of the concerned authorities, and do whatever is in its power to make people aware so that they are no more cheated and exploited through fake and fraudulent cricket.