Chennai: The Madras High Court Friday sentenced an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, G Sampath Kumar to 15 days imprisonment on a criminal contempt of court petition filed against him by cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni for having reportedly made contumacious remarks against the Supreme Court and the High Court.
The Court suspended the sentence for a month's period enabling the contemnor to go on appeal.
Earlier, Justices PN Prakash and RMT Teekaa Raman has ordered notice to the officer and asked him to appear before it to tender his explanation. Kumar was accused of having made the remarks in his written reply to a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed by the cricketer in 2014 for having named him in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scam.
Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram granted the mandatory consent for moving the criminal contempt of court petition against the IPS officer. On July 7, the IPS officer sought the AG to reconsider his decision, which was rejected. A detailed order was issued against the plea from Kumar.
The Contempt of Courts Act of 1971 mandates a consent from the AG for moving such criminal contempt petitions against those in government service.
In 2014, Sampath Kumar was placed under suspension for allegedly taking bribe from one of the bookies accused in the IPL betting scam case, which he unearthed. Later, an inquiry into the allegations gave him a clean chit, leading to his re-instatement in the service.
The 1997-batch officer was working as the Superintendent of Police (SP) in the Q branch(Internal Security) of Tamil Nadu police, when he unpacked the betting scam in 2013. Kumar's investigations also brought to the spotlight the alleged betting, fixing and cheating that came with the game, and several big names.
Sampath Kumar who deposed before the Mudgal Committee regarding the IPL spot-fixing scandal, called for an umbrella probe. He wanted the entire case to be handled by one agency, such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He submitted that several independent units from states were handling multiple cases relating to the IPL games. He also informed the panel that the fixing charges were not being properly investigated because of the diffused nature of the process.
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