IPS officer Sampath Kumar who probed 2013 IPL betting case

IPS officer G Sampath Kumar, who investigated the 2013 IPL betting case, was on Friday acquitted by a special court here in a corruption case filed against him for allegedly taking bribe to let off some people involved in the scam.

Judge J Omprakash of the special court for corruption cases held the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Kumar and three others and acquitted all.

He directed the CB-CID police, which investigated the case, to return the alleged bribe money seized from the accused with appropriate interest.

Kumar investigated the betting and spot-fixing related to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in 2013 as the then Q Branch Superintendent of Police of Tamil Nadu.

A year later, he was booked on the charge of abusing his official position and collecting Rs 1.35 lakh from three people allegedly involved in the scam by promising to save them from prosecution.

Kumar, who was later suspended, had maintained that he had been unnecessarily implicated in the case with an "intention of silencing him from probing the IPL betting scandal".

He was charged with offences under sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of IPC and sections 13(1)(d), 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act.