A Supreme Court panel, inquiring into the IPL spot fixing scam, has come down heavily on Mumbai police for "not willing" to investigate involvement of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in it and for protecting "lots of persons" involved in the betting syndicate.

Probe by the Mumbai Police in the scandal was sharply cricised by a three-member apex court panel headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and raised questions on why police allowed a Pakistani umpire to leave the country when it knew about his involvement in the scam.

He said that Mumbai police was aware of proposed fixing between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians three days before the match was played on May 15 last year through intercepted calls of Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf but it did not take any action against him.