IPL scam: Mudgal panel gives clean chit to Srinivasan, indicts Meiyappan

Portions of the 35-page report prepared by Justice Mukul Mudgal panel which was made public on Monday by the Supreme Court has indicted Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals' co-owner Raj Kundra in 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting case.

Srinivasan, who is also International Cricket Committee (ICC) Chairman, has been given a clean chit in both spot-fixing and betting involvement.

The findings of the report will certainly help him return to BCCI mainframe, who is seeking a second term as president.

The current BCCI office-bearers, who are desperate to get Srinivasan elected for another term, had summoned an emergency working committee meeting on Tuesday to tackle an anti-Srinivasan wave, led by former president Shashank Manohar and with tacit support from ex-BCCI boss Sharad Pawar.

Last Friday BCCI puts off AGM which was originally scheduled for November 20, hinting that it will wait for Supreme Court's ruling on 'suspended' Srinivasan to facilitate his comeback to power.

But Srini's opposition camp on Monday seemed unwary of the fact the he has been given clean-chit.

On the contrary, they are reportedly weighing on the fact that his son-in-law Gurunath has been found guilty.

Portions of the 35-page report made by Mudgal-led inquiry panel said, though Srinivasan as well as IPL governing council, including CEO Sundar Raman, knew about the betting and match-fixing, but they failed to take action against it.

The report notes that Srinivasan may have known that some players were involved in betting but he didn't take any action on it.

Chennai Super Kings team owner Meiyappan has already been indicted by the Mudgal panel for betting and sharing team information.

The report, however, said Meiyappan was not involved in match-fixing.

Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police over his alleged involvement in the betting racket and was in jail while the probe was on.

The report also said that Sundar Raman knew a contact of a bookie and had contacted him eight times in one season.

They were served notices and the next hearing is scheduled on November 24.

Opposition camp demanded that Srini should quit contesting on moral and ethical grounds.

But Srini said that he himself is "clean" and should not be "punished" for Meiyappan's alleged misdeeds.

Srinivasan told NDTV that he was relieved by the report's findings.

Srini though said that he will comment only after he has read the report and that he will react only after the Supreme Court passes its judgement.

The BCCI has reportedly stated to take strong action against all those guilty. The reaction came after the Mudgal panel report suggested that IPL COO Sundar Raman was in contact with a bookie.

"In the case of Meiyappan and Raj Kundra action will be taken against them," Shivlal Yadav, working president of the BCCI was quoted by media as saying.

He however, refused to speculate on what action would be taken against the teams they were involved in, he said.

"If there is evidence against Mr Sundar Raman spoke to a bookie then action will be taken. The BCCI will not spare anybody," he said.

Yadav also denied that there was any pressure to sack Raman as IPL COO, and said concerns had been raised over him continuing at the post.

Earlier, on Friday, the Supreme Court had revealed the names of Srinivasan, his son-in-law Meiyappan, Kundra and Sundar Raman among the non-players, who were being probed when Justice Mudgal submitted his first report in February.

The court had served notices to the four and scheduled the next hearing to November 24.

Justice Mukul Mudgal committee was appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the IPL fixing scandal.

The panel also included ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly.