Three weeks after the committee to probe the spot-fixing scandal was commissioned, the first significant step in the direction in probing one of Indian cricket’s biggest scandals was taken on Friday.
The originally constituted three-member probe team, which was reduced to two following Sanjay Jagdale’s resignation from the panel and the cricket board, is headed by Justice T. Jayaram Chouta, with Justice R. Balasubramanian being the other member of the committee.
Chouta and Balasubramanian held a two-and-half hour meeting with Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI’s general manager of game development, in a city hotel.
With Chouta based out of Bengaluru, the probe committee will meet in the city.
While it is learnt that Shetty had met Chouta at his residence last week and handed over the relevant documents, the procedural norms of the enquiry commission were detailed at the meeting.
Speaking after the meeting, Shetty said, “The procedures that the (enquiry) commission should follow and the rules and regulations were discussed. Explanations from the three parties — Gurunath Meiyappan, owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were sought. They will all be given an opportunity to explain themselves in person by the commission.”
Shetty also said that the necessary documents have been handed over to the panel.
Initially the panel was supposed to probe former BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
But with Royals’ co-owner Raj Kundra also among those allegedly involved in betting, he too will come under the panel’s purview.
Having already lost a crucial three weeks in kick-starting the enquiry, it’s quite baffling to note from Shetty’s comments that a time frame or a deadline has not been set for the commission to submit their report.
This is quite intriguing considering former BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s return to the helm from his self-imposed exile will depend on the findings of the committee.
There have been speculations that the committee’s findings and BCCI’s resultant action may well be a face-saving exercise for cash-rich cricket body, which for the last month has been under the scanner for wrongdoing of people right from its president to his family members and IPL players and franchisee owners.