WIll legalising betting in cricket boost match-fixing?

Vicky Nanjappa explains how the player-bookie nexus works A report by the Financial Intelligence Wing, and interrogation of several arrested bookies, has revealed the manner in which players are lured into spot-fixing and how money is parked in financial institutions. The report states that a set of bookies are chosen for the operation. These persons belong to a cartel controlled by the underworld. When this cartel targetted the IPL, it threw in Rs 3000 crore into the market and recovered Rs ...

Vicky Nanjappa reports on how Narendra Modi has not just managed to draw the crowd in Karnataka but improved the BJP’s chances in the state Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Karnataka have a spring in their steps, thanks to the recent campaigning by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the state.Former state chief minister D Sadananda Gowda is ecstatic that Modi came to Mangalore and raised the hopes of the party cadres. “He is our star campaigner; he was our star campaigner in ...

In Bellary, the election campaigns are mellow and the flamboyance is missing, reports Vicky Nanjappa The Republic of Bellary, the mining capital of Karnataka, wears a forlorn look today. Once a booming city enjoying the spoils of illegal mining, it is today a mere shadow of its glory days, after a Supreme Court order put an end to the spurious activities of local mining barons. While the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Virupaksha Gouda, a candidate who has no connection to mining, the ...

The CRPF which had sanitised the area three hours before the attack had failed to locate any landmines, reports Vicky Nanjappa Even as the Chhattisgarh police try to make sense out of Saturday’s deadly naxal attack, glaring loopholes in the manner the situation was handled have surfaced. The Central Reserve Police Force which has exclusive charge over the naxal menace had sanitised the area three hours prior to the attack but was not around the area at the time of the attack. There was ...

Enforcement Directorate has a tough task on hand as the source of betting money is diverse, reports Vicky Nanjappa The task ahead for the Enforcement Directorate probing the money angle to the IPL spot-fixing case appears to be Herculean in nature, as there is over Rs 30,000 crore that  the betting syndicate has landed into India from more than one country. The betting syndicate is under the control of operatives not just from Dubai and Karachi; there is a great amount of influence from ...

There are lots of predictions ahead of the Karnataka elections as to who the winner on May 5 would be, says Vicky Nanjappa.  A recent survey by a television channel gave the Congress a thumping majority. It also went on to state that the Bharatiya Janata Party would get just 35 to 40 seats. The Congress welcomed the survey, but there is a talk in political and journalistic circles that the survey could be wrong. The last time the same channel had given the Congress majority while the ...

In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah says his first priority is to put the state back on track after five years of bad governance. The wait has finally paid off and Siddaramaiah is now Karnataka's new chief minister. The 64-year-old leader who grazed cattle near Mysore as a boy has risen to the highest post in the state. He himself had said when he announced himself as the top contender for the post of chief minister that he has a plus ...

Vicky Nanjappa reports on how despite tall claims by parties, dynasty politics has not ceased to influence the distribution of tickets in KarnatakaIt appears that the talk of doing away with dynasty politics is just a pre-election gimmick in Karnataka.Karnataka elections are flooded with candidates who already have a family member in the political arena. Two or three persons of a family contesting elections has become the norm. The Congress, which made dynasty the biggest pre-poll issue, leads ...

Vicky Nanjappa profiles Narain Rao Manjunath, one of the key accused in the Railways bribery scandal. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the Railways bribery scandal in which Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla is an accused, is looking for vital leads from Narain Rao Manjunath, managing director of the Bengaluru-based G G Tronics India Private Limited. Manjunath is charged with paying the bribe for suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar who was ...