Cricket takes a backseat at Eden as conspiracy theories hound IPL

As Kolkata Knight Riders take on Mumbai Indians in the IPL super-clash on Tuesday in the presence of Shah Rukh Khan, Mukesh Ambani, Hrithik Roshan, Sachin Tendulkar and other celeb bigwigs, the upcoming cricket match has taken a complete backseat at the Eden Gardens, and conspiracy theories are flying thick and fast in the Maidan and the power corridors of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

The CAB president and former city police commissioner told The Indian Express on Monday that he was suspecting foul play at a much more serious and larger level than initially thought of. “I had thought all along that the floodlight failure during the April 20 match had nothing to do with sabotage. But after these thefts of power cables at specific locations at Eden, now I think that the floodlight failure may have been part of a sabotage attempt. I fear there’s a concerted effort to sabotage to the IPL matches in Kolkata. You never know what they could be up to next,” Mukherjee said.

Understandably, the CAB, organising franchisee Red Chillies Entertainment, and the Kolkata Police have gone into an overdrive plugging security loopholes at the Eden Gardens for Tuesday’s Kolkata-Mumbai match, with the CAB shelling out Rs 12 lakh to hire additional private security forces at the stadium’s vantage points over the next couple of days.

“This was supposed to be a cricketing carnival. Instead, cricket is in the background. Right now, it’s the security arrangements that’s our headache now, all because of these thefts, and the power failure and the suspicion of sabotage attempts,” rued the CAB president.

While Kolkata Police Commissioner GM Chakrabarti has deployed cops in huge numbers at the Edens— almost turning the ground into a fortress— the CAB has hired a hardcore 25-member security team from Group-4 Securicos for round-the-clock vigil. Such measures are unprecedented in the history of the stadium.

The city police chief meanwhile briefed that a few people were being interrogated over the power cord thefts at the Eden Gardens.