Match fixing: Sports Minister meets top officials

Indian Sports Minister Uma Bharti on Wednesday met top officials from the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Delhi Police in a bid to chalk out a comprehensive action plan against match fixing in cricket.

Officials from the Ministries of External Affairs, Home and Law were also present in the hour-long meeting, Sports Ministry sources said.

The sources said this was the highest level official talks held in the Government since the match-fixing scandal broke out in April with the Delhi Police tapes throwing up evidence of a nexus between players and bookies, which claimed its first victim in the former South African skipper Hansie Cronje.

The officials from the law enforcing agencies discussed their strategies with the Minister to tackle the menace and in turn the Minister wanted to know as to what possible steps could be taken to prevent this scandal from recurring in future, they said.

The Delhi Police, ED and CBDT discussed the evidence on hand with the Minister and officials from other Ministries. They also discussed possible ways and means to proceed further, the sources said.