SC-appointed panel to speak to Sreesanth next
The Supreme Court-instituted three-member committee probing the IPL spot-fixing scandal will speak to banned pacer S Sreesanth, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and a few others, including commentator Harsha Bhogle, when it meets for three days here starting November 16.
The committee, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, met here on November 5 and 6 during which it spoke to top officials from the Mumbai Crime Branch and BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit chief Ravi Sawani.
“The Committee met in Mumbai on 5th and 6th November 2013 and interacted with Mr. Ravi Sawani, Director — ACU of BCCI on 5th November 2013.
“The Committee further interacted with Mr. Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Mumbai and his team comprising Mr. Niket Kaushik, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime, Mr. Nandkumar Gopale, P.I., Crime Branch, Shri Dnyaneshwar Wagh and Shri Manohar Ipalpalli of the Mumbai Police, on 6th November 2013,” Vidushpat Singhania, Secretary to the Committee, said in a statement issued by the BCCI.
“The Committee will further interact with the Mumbai Police on 7th and 8th December 2013.”
The next in line are Sreesanth, former IPL CEO Chirayu Amin, Rajasthan Royals co—owner Raj Kundra and actor Vindoo Dara Singh, who is out on bail after being arrested for alleged betting.
“The Committee will next meet in Mumbai on the 15th, 16th and 17th of November 2013, when it intends to interact with Mr. Sundar Raman, COO, IPL, Mr. Chirayu Amin, Mr. Harsha Bhogle, Mr. Ankit Chavan, Mr. S. Sreesanth, Mr. Harmeet Singh, Mr. Raj Kundra and Mr. Vindoo Dara Singh,” the statement said.
The three-member panel also comprises Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta and has been asked to investigate allegations of betting and spot-fixing against former Chennai Super Kings Team Principal and BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, some cricketers and owner of IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR).
The committee was appointed after a petition was filed against the BCCI probe panel, which exonerated Meiyappan and other team owners but handed out varied bans to cricketers.
The Committee is specifically focusing on the alleged roles of Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals’ players in two IPL scandal cases registered by Mumbai and Delhi Police.
Meiyappan was chargesheeted on September 21 along with actor Vindoo Dara Singh and 20 others by Mumbai Police in the IPL betting case, four months after the scandal rocked the cricketing world.
They have been charged with forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, among others. Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and 15 alleged bookies from the neighbouring country have been named as “wanted accused” in the 11,500-page chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court.
The Crime Branch shared the chargesheet copy with the panel, besides the telephonic conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan which showed the two were involved in betting.
