IPL betting: Charge memo against IPS officer quashed

A division bench comprising Justice KK Sasidharan and Justice PT Asha quashed the charge memo, which was upheld by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), on the ground that the authorities had failed to obtain prior sanction from the Home Ministry, which is mandatory.

The bench, however, gave liberty to the government to proceed afresh after obtaining sanction from the Union Ministry.

Sampath Kumar had submitted that while being part of the Q Branch CID (Internal Security), he had unearthed a wide network of bookies while investigating a fake passport racket case. Subsequently, the case was taken up for investigation by the CB-CID and false charges of extortion of money were levelled against him with ulterior motives, he said.

The charge memo issued to him in 2014 had levelled eight charges. The plea that Sampath Kumar moved at CAT to quash the memo was dismissed in 2015, following which he approached the High Court.