India's Supreme Court wants own investigators in IPL case

Published April 22, 2014
The Supreme Court has preferred its own panel of investigators rather than let Indian cricket scrutinize itself. -File photo
The Supreme Court has preferred its own panel of investigators rather than let Indian cricket scrutinize itself. -File photo

NEW DELHI: India's Supreme Court has preferred its own panel of investigators to check into corruption in the Indian Premier League rather than let Indian cricket scrutinise itself.

The court on Tuesday decided to ask Justice Mukul Mudgal, who headed a three-man commission last year that found Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of being in contact with illegal bookmakers, to lead a renewed investigation.

''We've given our consent,'' retired judge Mudgal told the NDTV news channel. ''It's now up to the esteemed court to guide us on the way forward at the hearing next Tuesday.''

The court last week asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India how it intended to investigate spot-fixing allegations in the IPL, and decided using the sport's governing body was not the best path.

The BCCI on Tuesday proposed a three-man panel comprising former India allrounder Ravi Shastri, former Central Bureau of Investigation chief R.K. Raghavan and retired Calcutta High Court judge J.N. Patel, but could not convince the court that it could carry out a credible investigation.

Meiyappan is the son-in-law of suspended BCCI chief Narainswami Srinivasan, whose role will also be investigated.

Though Srinivasan was not directly implicated, Mudgal's commission reportedly named him among 13 people who needed to be investigated, since allegations against them could not be proved immediately.

The issue came to the Supreme Court after a two-man BCCI panel initially cleared Meiyappan last year. Bu the Bombay High Court, after it was petitioned by Bihar Cricket Association secretary Aditya Verma, announced that BCCI panel's decision to clear Meiyappan was ''illegal and unconstitutional.''

The spot-fixing controversy arose last year after the arrest of a clutch of players including former test cricketer Shantakumaran Sreesanth for spot-fixing.

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