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Delhi Police failed to establish Dawood nexus: Court
New Delhi, July 25
Giving a jolt to Delhi Police, a court here on Saturday said it had
failed to establish existence of a core crime syndicate of underworld
Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Chhota Shakeel involved in betting and
match-fixing in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing case.
Additional
Sessions Judge Neena Bansal Krishna made the observation while
discharging cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan,
and 33 other accused - all of whom were out on bail.
Delhi Police
charge sheeted them for cheating and conspiracy under various sections
of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the stringent Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) while alleging Dawood and Shakeel
were behind the spot-fixing scandal.
"...even if entire evidence
of prosecution is accepted, then too it is not established that there
exists a core crime syndicate of Dawood, Chhota Shakeel who have been
indulging in the organized offence of betting and match fixing and also
dealing with money so generated through hawala," the judge said in a
175-page order.
The court noted that Delhi Police has failed to
establish any nexus or link between various accused with Dawood's aide
Javed Chutani as part of organized group and said that a case under
MCOCA is not made out.
However, it added that the best case could
have been under Public Gambling Act, but "that also is not prima facie
established from the evidence placed on record by the prosecution".
The
court also observed that the game of cricket is a game of skill and
cannot be held as a game of chance, therefore it is exempted under a
section of this act from the definition of gambling.
"...in view
of the huge vaccum of law in this regard in the realm of law, this court
is helpless to proceed further under any of the penal statutes," it
said.
"The offence of cheating is also not made out prima facie,
even if the entire evidence of prosecution is admitted without formal
proof," the court said.
The formal set of charges, running into
6,000 pages, named Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan, among other 42
accused, in the scandal related to the IPL-6 held in 2013.
Six
accused, including Dawood, Shakeel and Chutani are on the run. Dawood
and Shakeel have been declared proclaimed offenders in the case after
police completed proceedings of their property attachment.