Sports
24
INDIA IN NEW YORK FEBRUARY 14, 2014
Betting bomb explodes
before IPL7 auction
Indian cricket board chief ’s son-in-law involved in betting, as are six ‘Indian
capped’ players, probe committee tells Supreme Court
A
Gurunath Meiyappan
Shilpa Shetty
Raj Kundra
committee probing alleged corruption in the cash-rich Indian
Premier League tournament
has said in its report that ‘the
allegations of betting and passing information’ against Board of Control
for Cricket in India chief Narayanswami
Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan ‘stand proved’.
In a 200-page document submitted to
India’s Supreme Court February 10, the
Justice Mukul Mudgal-headed committee
said the allegations of fixing against
Meiyappan as well as Rajasthan Royals coowner Raj Kundra need to be further investigated.
The Supreme Court bench, headed by
Justice A K Patnaik, said it will pass the
appropriate order after going through the
report.
‘The committee is of the view,’ the report
said, ‘that the material on record clearly
indicates that Meiyappan was the face of
the Chennai Super Kings and the team official of CSK.’
The report, based on the information provided by the Delhi and Mumbai police and
comprising police reports and the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai police and transcripts of telephonic conversations, said,
‘Meiyappan was indulging in betting
through Vindoo Dara Singh who was in
direct touch with the bookies and punters
like Mr Vikram Aggarwal… Bets placed by
Mr Meiyappan inter alia were not only in
favor of CSK but also against it… Meiyappan
also bet on teams in matches of teams other
than CSK… The role of Gurunath
Meiyappan in Chennai Super Kings as the
team official stands proved and the allegations of betting and passing of information
against Meiyappan stand proved.’
The committee, also comprising Addi-
tional Solicitor General N Nageshwar Rao
and Assam Cricket Association member
Nilay Dutta, added, ‘However, the allegations
of fixing requires further investigation.’
The committee’s report came two days
before the IPL auction in Bangalore for the
seventh edition of the tournament, and
raised questions on the status of the
‘Six Indian capped players
names figure in scandal’
Six prominent ‘Indian capped’ players, including one who is part of the current
team, also figure in the report.
The Justice Mudgal report said a journalist, who was apparently connected with
recording of tapes for a sports magazine, could identify the voice of the Indian player. He said the player was part of the team which played the World Cup and is a
member of the team now.
‘The journalist,’ the report said, ‘refused to disclose the names of the Indian players involved. In spite of repeated requests to put the name of the said player in a
sealed cover for perusal before the Supreme Court, the journalist appeared terrified
and was very reluctant to do so and pleaded that it would be dangerous for the journalist concerned. It thus appears that names of six prominent Indian capped players are available in tapes in connection with dealings with bookies while two of
these prominent Indian capped players have also been named by none other than a
former president of BCCI.’
The report also referred to the transcripts of the tapped conversation between two
alleged bookies, Chandresh Jain and Ashwani Aggarwal, in which there are ‘references to high level fixing of players where the names of two international Indian
players were mentioned.’
Chennai Super Kings, as Meiyappan was
the Team Principal, though Srinivasan
claimed he was only a cricket enthusiast.
The team may attract provisions of the
termination clause under the Franchise
Agreement which says that any franchisee,
franchisee group company and/or any
owner acts in any way that has adverse
affect on the reputation of the League,
BCCI/IPL, BCCI and the game of cricket.
However, the BCCI has to decide whether
the disciplinary action it may take could be
a period of ineligibility or a ban on specific
periods for the team or only a ban on the
individual concerned.
The committee — appointed by a bench
of Justices A K Patnaik and J S Kehar to
probe allegations of betting and spot fixing
against Meiyappan and owners of the
Rajasthan Royals — also said, ‘Allegation of
betting and spot fixing against Raj Kundra,
team owner of Jaipur Cricket Private
Limited, need to be further investigated.’
The court was hearing cross appeals filed
by the BCCI and the Cricket Association of
Bihar, challenging the Bombay high court’s
order that had declared the BCCI’s probe
panel in the scandal as illegal.
‘In so far as the roles of Meiyappan and
Vindoo Dara Singh are concerned,’ the
report said, ‘our conclusions are based on
the testimony of the police and chargesheet and are not meant in any manner to
pronounce on the issue as to whether
Meiyappan and Singh are guilty of the
offences charged with, which issue is
entirely under the domain of the criminal
court.’
The committee also took note of the issue
of conflict of interest raised against
Srinivasan.
‘While it is evident,’ the report said, ‘that
the questions raised before us about conflict of interest are serious and may have
large scale ramification on the functioning
of cricket, we do not deem it proper to pronounce our opinion on this issue as it is not
directly in our terms of reference. However,
since several stake holders repeatedly
expressed this issue, we thought it proper to
bring this issue to the attention of this
court.’
While maintaining that further investigation is needed, the report said, ‘In so far as
the role of Kundra is concerned, the fact
that he resorted to betting through Umesh
Goenka in the IPL matches is evident from
the statement of Mr Umesh Goenka under
section 164 of CrPC recorded by the Delhi
court… We are clearly of the view that the
statements under section 164 of CrPC made
by Goenka clearly required further and
serious investigation, as Raj Kundra and
his wife Shilpa Shetty are part owners of
Rajasthan Royals.’
The committee also gave a 10-point suggestion to make cricke H8