For the time being, the BCCI may have managed to give Kundra and Gurunath some respite after being accused of spot fixing during the recently concluded IPL. However, as per Niranjan Shah, one of the vice-presidents of BCCI, that may come to naught if they are found to be guilty of spot-fixing. Many people have criticized the report of the panel as eyewash as it has stated that it did not find any proof against the two. This is strange as I remember having read in a newspaper that Kundra had confessed betting in spite of being one of the owners even though such malpractice is strictly forbidden in IPL rules.
The travails of Gurunath Meiyappan are fairly well documented – in fact there have been reports that how Mr. Srinivasan wanted someone like Vishwanathan Anand as his son-in-law and had to settle with him as his daughter had fallen in love with him after a few meetings at social get-togethers. It needs to be mentioned here that in the same report the Chennai Super Kings, owned by India Cements of Srinivasan, have also received a clean chit. At a basic level it can be said that Gurunath has earned the reprimand so that his father-in-law who has had to abdicate the post of president since June may be reinstated.
However, things may not be as easy as they seem as police are also inquiring the whole matter. As per sources, the vice-president of BCCI, Arun Jaitley, shall be studying the report and will then provide a brief to the governing council of the IPL as well as the Working Committee, which is the arm of BCCI that makes all the decisions. It is expected that Srinivasan will be present at the meeting as well.
Mumbai police, which has been investigating the fixing and betting incidents which ultimately led them to Meiyappan, has, meanwhile, stated that he had admitted that he was betting during interrogation. The BCCI panel of a couple of erstwhile High Court judges, have cleared Meiyappan’s name when the police did not depose as they did not have orders from the court. Srinivasan had earlier stated that the report of the probe committee will be final. He had also stated that he did not know anything about his son’s supposed role in betting.
At that time there were many members in the board who wanted him to resign owing to the fact that his son-in-law had been implicated in match fixing. However, he had put up a brave face and refused to resign. A rather turbulent meeting was convened in June and after that he agreed to step aside for the time being when the probe committee was looking into the whole matter.
The thing is that matters would take a very interesting turn if Meiyappan and Kundra are found guilty by Mumbai Police – What steps will be taken by the powers-that-be to ensure that BCCI repairs the damage done by the match fixing scandal? Will Srinivasan then excuse himself on grounds of moral responsibility or will he maintain that since he had nothing to do with it he will also not remove himself and be in power as long as he possibly can? The next few days are going to be interesting for sure!
