NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s top officer Ishwar Singh, whose chance tapping of a telephonic conversation involving South Africa captain Hansie Cronje opened a Pandora box on cricket match-fixing in 2000, retires on Thursday “absolutely satisfied” after an eventful 38-year-two-month-long service.
Singh, 60, retires as Assistant Commissioner of Police (Southwest district, New Delhi), and after attending multiple farewell parties on Thursday, he will soon head to his paternal home in Igrah village in Jind district of Haryana to spend some time with his aged parents.
Singh has effectively been out of home for 50 years, since joining the Sainik School in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in 1970, with a desire to join the Indian Army. That, however, never happened.
Singh, a sub-inspector in 2000, became a globally recognised name after the Hansie Cronje scandal rocked and shook the cricket world. Many years later, he was part of the pilot security entourage of American President Barack Obama on his India visit in 2010, and won a certificate of appreciation from the American Embassy.
“I am absolutely satisfied with what I have done in my career. I have helped solve so many other cases during my long service. But as far as getting popularity is concerned, the Hansie Cronje case got me the most,” Singh told IANS.
“I have been out of my home since 1970, when I got admission to Sainik School in Bhubanewar with a dream of joining Indian Army. I returned from there in 1977 and completed my graduation from Kurukshetra University. Then, I joined Delhi Police as a sub-inspector on October 22, 1982,” he said.
“After I retire at midnight on Thursday — after ensuring potential New Year revellers are confined to their homes — I will have a party with my Delhi Police colleagues before finally hanging up my boots. My immediate plan is to go to my village and spend some time with my parents, both are 86 years old.”
Former Delhi Commissioner of Police Neeraj Kumar, who filed the much-delayed charge sheet in the Cronje case in 2013, called Singh’s role in cricket match-fixing “monumental”.
Singh has two sons. The elder one runs a business and the younger one works in Mumbai.
IANS