NEW: DELHI: Indian cricket was thrown into turmoil on Friday when the country's highest court said four top officials, including the sport's world chief
Narayanaswami Srinivasan, may have been involved in corruption in the
Indian Premier League.
The Supreme Court said Srinivasan, his
son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, IPL chief executive Sundar Raman and
Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra were among those who were investigated
by a panel it had appointed to look into the scandal.
"We have
seen the report and it did suggest some misdemeanour on part of certain
individuals," the Press Trust of India quoted a two-judge bench as
saying, without elaborating.
"Certain findings recorded by the
committee are understood to have indicted some individuals whose conduct
has been investigated."
The court ordered that copies of the
report be handed to these four officials and asked their lawyers to
submit any objections within four days.
It also said the
identities of the remaining nine people under investigation, most of
whom are believed to be cricketers, should not be disclosed. Their names
were handed to the court in a sealed envelope in February.
A
lawyer for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told the
court the body would delay its annual elections scheduled for November
20, in which Srinivasan was expected to be re-elected as president for a
three-year term.
A guilty verdict against the officials could lead to a major shake-up
in the glitzy Twenty20 tournament where rules state that a franchise
should be banned if any official is found to have brought the game to
disrepute.
The next hearing in the case will be on November 24.
Meiyappan
is the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings franchise, a team
owned by Srinivasan's India Cements company and captained by India
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The court had barred Srinivasan
from carrying out his duties as BCCI president until it delivered its
final verdict, but did not stop him from heading the International
Cricket Council.
The sixth IPL season last year was mired in
controversy after police launched legal proceedings against several IPL
officials and cricketers, including former Test fast bowler
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, for illegal betting and spot-fixing.
The
IPL, which began in 2008, features the world's top players signed up
for huge fees by companies and high-profile individuals in a glitzy mix
of sport and entertainment.
International news organisations
including Agence France-Presse have suspended on-field coverage of
matches hosted by the BCCI since 2012 after the board imposed
restrictions on picture agencies. -AFP
Saturday, 15 November 2014
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