Ever since the internal probe panel of the BCCI comprising two retired judges submitted its report extenuating Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra among others in the IPL spot fixing scandal, sentiments expressing outrage have come out from all quarters. And now, in what is certainly going to be a huge blow to the nation's apex cricket body, the Bombay High Court has decreed that the report submitted by the internal probe panel is illegal.
The ruling of the Bombay High Court, in effect, renders the findings of the two-member panel ineffective. The High Court also directed the BCCI to consider another panel and conduct yet another enquiry into the matter.
On Monday, the sports ministry and the Mumbai police claimed that the findings of the probe panel were inaccurate and had no legal standing. The panel, had in its report, claimed that it had found no incriminating evidence against either Meiyappan or Kundra. The focus of the panel was almost exclusively on determining whether the two concerned persons were guilty of spot fixing or not while not paying sufficient attention to whether the two had indulged in gambling on matches involving teams of which the two were owners of, despite Mumbai Police having filed charges against them for betting and not fixing.
On Monday, Mumbai police quashed claims of not having co-operated with the probe panel saying that the enquiry was yet to be completed.