N Srinivasan, ICC Chairman and the BCCI’s President-in-exile, will be breathing a bit easier after the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel said he was not involved either in betting or match fixing. The panel, which investigated the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) betting and spot fixing scam, also stated that Srinivasan had not tried to prevent the probe into the scam.

However, the panel’s final report, portions of which were released on Monday, said that Srinivasan, along with four other BCCI officials, knew that an IPL player was violating the IPL code of conduct, and took no action. The name of the player and the details of the IPL code violation were not specified.

Srinivasan was among 13 people probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Mudgal panel.

'Meiyappan, part of CSK' The panel, which also included L Nageswara Rao, Additional Solicitor General, and Nilay Dutta, senior advocate, had submitted its interim report on February 10, indicting Gurunath Meiyappan, Srinivasan’s son-in-law, of betting. “Gurunath Meiyappan formed an integral part of Chennai Super Kings and most persons viewed him as the face of the team,” the report noted.

It said “…investigations have confirmed that this individual (Meiyappan) was a team official of a franchise (Chennai Super Kings). He was frequently meeting Individual two (name withheld) in his hotel room. This strengthens the conclusion of the committee in its interim report, dated February 10, that he was in close touch with Individual two.”

The panel added that a forensic analysis of voice samples confirms Meiyappan’s voice in a conversation with a person acting as an intermediary between him and bookies. “Consequently … the reports thus become unanimous about the betting activity of Meiyappan,” it said. The panel, however, held that there was no evidence on record to show that the ICC Chairman’s son-in-law was involved in match-fixing. The panel also held that Raj Kundra, co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals, was in touch with bookies about betting, and that by not reporting it he had violated the BCCI/IPL’s anti-corruption code. Material on record indicates that he was placing bets, which is also a violation of the BCCI/IPL anti-corruption code, it said.

The Mudgal panel’s report said IPL Chief Operating Officer Sundar Raman said he knew of a bookie and had contacted him eight times in one season. He admitted knowing the contact details of the bookie but claimed to be unaware of his connection with betting activities.

Raman also accepted that he had received inputs about Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra taking part in betting activities but was informed by the ICC anti-corruption unit chief that this was not actionable information. He also accepted that this information was not conveyed to any other individual.

A Bench of Justices TS Thakur and Ibrahim Kalifulla will consider the outcome of the report on November 24.

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