Delhi police to send team to London

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Delhi police hope to be able to send a team shortly to London to interrogate bookie Sanjeev Chawla who was arrested by Scotland Yard last month.

While a decision in this regard was taken long ago, the police team's departure has so far been held by lack of clearance from the ministry of external affairs. However, the police authorities hope that in the light of recent developments, the MEA would clear the visit.

The Delhi police are also upset that the Yard had kept them in the dark about arresting Chawla last month. In fact, a team from the Yard had visited Delhi recently, but no information had been passed on about Chawla.

The local police also feels that by levelling a comparatively minor charge of cheating against Chawla, the Yard has ensured that the bookie will continue to stay on in London unless otherwise decided by the courts.

K K Paul, joint commissioner, crime branch, Delhi, told rediff.com on Monday morning: "We are getting in touch with the London police and hope to get the latest details by this afternoon. We will decide what is to be done only after that."

Meanwhile, Sports Minister Umar Bharti has toughened her stand on match-fixing following the threats held out by some of the players that they would move the court against the government's decision to withdraw Arjuna Award from tainted cricket players. She reiterated that match-fixing would be made a criminal offence so that nobody dared fix a match anymore. In this respect, she cited the example of Singapore football players who were recently sent to jail by authorities for fixing matches.

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