Justice Mukul Mudgal-led committee, which was set up by Supreme to probe corruption charges against team owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, has submitted its report to the Supreme Court on Monday. The 170-page report has been compiled after recording statements of players, journalists and officials associated with IPL. The committee was formed by the apex court in October last year after a petetion by Bihar Cricket Association which stated that internal investigation of BCCI was not satisfactory.
The committee’s refrence point was to investigate allegation of betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League season six. The details of its report, which indicts CSK owner’s son-in-law, are expected to have a deep impact on not just the future of CSK and RR but also the shape that Indian Premier League takes in coming years. If the team owners of the two franchises are found guilty by the apex court, they may be scrapped as per IPL Governing Council’s constitution.
The probe – as part of its investigations – has scrutinized the role of CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan – son-in-law of Board of Control for Cricket in India chief N. Srinivasan. On the other hand, CSK has maintained that Meiyappan was never the team principal.
“The role of Gurunath Meiyappan in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as the team official stands proved and the allegations of betting and passing of information against Meiyappan stand proved,” a report of the three-member committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal revealed.
“However, the allegations of fixing require further investigation,” committee stated.
The committee’s report comes just two ahead of the auction in Bangalore for the IPL tournament this year and raises questions on the status of the CSK as Meiyappan was the Team Principal of CSK, though Srinivasan claimed he was just “a cricket enthusiast”.
However, it is the BCCI who has to decide whether the disciplinary action it takes will be against a team CSK or only ban the individual concerned.
“The committee is of the view that the material on record clearly indicates that Meiyappan was the face of CSK and the team official of CSK.”
Thus, comitee has rejected Srinivasan’s contention that his son-in-law was merely a cricket enthusiast.
The report also dealt with the allegations of betting and spot fixing against Rajashthan Royals’ Raj Kundra and said it need to be further investigated.
“Allegation of betting and spot fixing against Raj Kundra, team owner of Jaipur Cricket Private Limited, need to be further investigated,” the report added thus putting the furture of Rajasthan Royals under scanner.
The committee also took note of the issue of conflict of interest raised against Srinivasan, saying: “While it is evident 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 of this issue, we thought it proper to bring this issue to the attention of this court,” the report concluded.
