Shocked by the spot-fixing saga that has erupted around the Indian Premier League, sports minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said he has been forced to “hang his head in shame” due to the scandal. The minister insisted that a deterrent law would prevent the credibility crisis that cricket was facing right now.
“It is very shameful. As a young person, as a sports fan, as the sports minister of the country, my head hangs in shame today,” Jitendra told reporters here.
“There should be some mechanism so that it doesn’t happen again. And it is not only about cricket. We are talking about cricket because of this expose but there are other sports as well.
“We have to take preventive action from today onwards. We are working towards it and as soon as we get it, we will take action.”
The law ministry is mulling on anti-fixing legislation to deal with the menace after the latest scandal in which three players in the IPL were arrested. Several other murky details of the betting racket are tumbling out with police conducting country-wide raids to nab bookmakers, who also have underworld connections.
“We are in touch with the home ministry and the law ministry to work out the law. We will consult the Attorney General before moving ahead,” he said.
“It is necessary that there is a law or a deterrent. There is no guarantee that this is not happening in other sports. Who knows it might have started in other sports as well,” Jitendra said.
He, however, refused to comment on links emerging between the bookies and IPL team owners such as Chennai Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan.
“I cannot say anything because investigations are on and police will take action,” he said.