Will the CBI get to the truth?

At last there would appear to be some light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. Sports Minister SS Dhindsa declared in Parliament on Friday that the interim report of the CBI inquiry into the match fixing controversy was expected to be submitted by September. In reply to questions, he said the CBI had been investigating the matter and has questioned many cricketers and BCCI officials, both past and present.

Among the letters this website has received on the subject, many of them refer to the delay in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. Board president AC Muthiah has repeatedly asked the authorities to expedite the probes conducted by both the CBI and the IT officials and he now hopes the government will conclude the investigations by September 15. The longer the probe takes, the morale of the cricketers will continue to take a beating. Those wanting to clear themselves will be eager that the report is submitted soon for then they will know where they stand. Also the air should be cleared for the Indian team to approach the new season in a positive frame of mind. The entire Indian cricketing fraternity in this country and abroad will no doubt wish that the report's findings will be exhaustive and decisive.

But then the Indian judicial, political and investigative system is noted not only for delays. It is also noted for providing an anticlimactic denouement. At least something was expected from the Chandrachud commission, appointed by the BCCI to go into the match fixing episode when the controversy first broke. It turned out to be a damp squib. The expectations are higher with the probe being conducted by the CBI, a government agency. But will the final result meet with these expectations?

The cynics are already having a ball, saying that nothing will come out from these probes. Some of the utterances by Ministers and others in authority tend to give credence to such pessimistic views. At most, it is argued, the `tainted' players will suffer public humiliation, having gone down in the eye of the average cricket fan. But little will affect them by way of prosecution under a court of law, fines and imprisonment.

Already there are reports that even if the CBI can prove that the `tainted' cricketers have assets vastly in excess of their known sources of income, it does not provide any conclusive proof of their involvement in match fixing. The agency officials will have to get more evidence - collusion between the cricketers and the bookies to fix matches, proof that the match was fixed according to plan and evidence that money actually changed hands. Thus far, the CBI seems to be nowhere near all this.

CBI director RK Raghavan has admitted that the agency will have to take a final decision very soon on the basis of the available evidence. But what if the evidence is not sustainable to prosecute anybody? Well, then the agency will just put together a report on the match fixing controversy and hand it over to the government - obviously without recommendations.

When the CBI was appointed to deal with the scandal, there were growing doubts whether the agency could come up with anything concrete, keeping in mind both its past record and also the fact that this was largely an unchartered course for the CBI. To their credit, it must be said that the CBI has conducted an intensive probe, interrogating a number of leading cricketers and officials, past and present. It also worked in close unison with the income tax officials during the raids last month. But the question is has all this got them anywhere near the truth?