By writing to the NSA and calling for officers from the Intelligence Bureau, the CBI and the Delhi police to be given to him, former solicitor-general Gopal Subramanium seems to have forgotten to include a squadron of drones, an aircraft carrier and even Z+ security as he investigates corruption charges against the DDCA.
Careless, because that omission could leave some loopholes and Arun Jaitley might wriggle through.
Subramanium should have at least enlisted the services of a submarine to keep him cowered.
It is hardly on the same scale as the Vyapam scam (not that we have gone past the littered bodies that mark the absence of progress), after all.
There is a simple formula that a man of his experience could use. How much were the earnings over the past 13 years? How were they spent and accounted for, and where did the rest of the money go? That’s it, a couple of helper elves, a secretary or two, and you are set. You don’t need special forces or 007. And remember, he wants the best of the people, not run-of-the-mill spooks.
If the Centre has been rocked by the demands and sees in it a clear indication that Arun Jaitley is being targeted, it probably has a point. The DDCA is just one of 44-odd cricket associations at the state-level that come under the BCCI umbrella.
Now, no one is saying you do not investigate and let the biscuit crumble as it does.
But keep things in perspective.
The DDCA’s earnings are more as a club where the faithful come to play cards every evening, and from the food and beverages that are consumed. Far more money is made from hiring out the premises for non-cricketing events and one gets the impression that all this hoo-ha is a bit sinister. This isn’t the Nuremberg trial, nor is it the Hague, and we are not probing war crimes or those against humanity.
It is just the local cricket board and in a country where no one falls over in surprise and shock because a sports body is engaged in hanky-panky, the political overtones become obvious.
The former solicitor-general’s escape from obscurity could well have endowed him with a sense of misplaced importance and he wants to make the most of it. In the great scheme of things, corruption or misappropriation in the DDCA is not a game-changer demanding this sort of manpower and expertise.
Of course, if it is a shameless witch hunt, then you might as well call in RAW and check with Interpol if they can spare a few guys, and fling out a few red-corner notices since some DDCA official over the past 13 years must have travelled abroad and done a little bit of padding on the bill.
Can you imagine if every two-bit organisation was to demand a retinue of high profile investigators, especially in a nation where a major air crash is investigated by one judge who has no knowledge of aviation?
We would have no one left to do the real work. There are 17 unresolved major scams on the anvil.
Come on, Sir, do your job or go back into retirement. Get Jaitley the right way, not by creating a froth and a frenzy.
I don’t know if it is true but have MI5, Mossad and the CIA also been requested to stand by? Talk about using a 500 Barret on a partridge hunt.
But then Gopal would say, if you want to hunt elephants you need an elephant gun.
Even if you don’t have the moral licence to kill.
