India’s top court urges new probe into IPL

Supreme Court appoints its own panel to investigate cricket spot-fixing scandal in which many players are accused.

Three Indian bowlers, according to police, had agreed to concede runs for exchange of money in a pre-arranged deal [AFP]

India’s top court has preferred its own panel of investigators to check into corruption in the Indian Premier League (IPL) rather than let Indian cricket board scrutinise itself.

The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to ask Justice Mukul Mudgal, who headed a three-man commission last year that found Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of match-fixing, to lead a renewed investigation.

“We have given our consent,” retired judge Mudgal told the NDTV news channel. “It is 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 (BCCI) 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 proposed a three-man panel comprising former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri, former Central Bureau of Investigation chief RK Raghavan and retired Calcutta High Court judge JN Patel, but could not convince the court that it could carry out a credible investigation.

Spot-fixing

The controversy arose last year when three Rajasthan players – Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested on charges of spot-fixing.

The cricket board immediately suspended all three when New Delhi Police showed the footage from games in which the three bowlers agreed to concede runs for exchange of money in a pre-arranged deal.

The IPL is considered to be the world’s richest cricket tourney that draws top Indian and international cricketers every season.

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. But 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”.

Source: News Agencies