KPL Betting: Police Probe To Decide Fate Of Tournament

Bengaluru Police has served a notice to KSCA demanding extensive information on KPL in light of major controversies engulfing the league

The fate of Karnataka Premier League (KPL), an annual intra-state T20 cricket league, will depend on the final police investigation report, said Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) treasurer Vinay Mruthyunjaya on Thursday. “We don't know. There is still time, let the final report of the police investigation come. Till the completion of the investigation, we will definitely not conduct KPL,” Mruthyunja said. Meanwhile, Bengaluru Police has served a notice to KSCA demanding extensive information on KPL in light of major controversies engulfing the league. “Police asked for a lot of information pertaining to KPL tournament, teams, scorecards, video footage of all the matches, details of all the players, phone numbers,” Mruthyunjaya said. The KSCA treasurer said the state cricket authorities and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not get an inkling of the brewing betting, honeytraps, bookie funded foreign holidays and spot-fixing scandals plaguing the KPL. “We will checkup, we did not have any formidable information in this regard. Let me discuss with our officers also,” said Mruthyunjaya on allegations that the intra-state league cricketers are making more money via spot-fixing than the official match fees. The KSCA runs the KPL every year on the lines of the popular Indian Premier League (IPL). Started in 2008, KPL is functioning as a feeder tournament to IPL, emerging as a leading local franchise-based league with BCCI approval. KPL also provides a platform to tap the Kannada hinterland cricket talent. As many as 16 KPL players featured in the IPL.