New Delhi: The Supreme Court caught the country napping by making large portions of the Mukul Mudgal Commtee’s findings public on Monday, and there were a few real surprises in what was released in the public domain. In the main, it held that cricket control board president-in-exile N. Srinivasan and four other office-bearers did not take action against at least one player who violated the Players’ Code of Conduct in IPL 2013.
It confirmed involvement of two team “offficials” - Gurunath Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals - in illegal betting and also that there had been lapses in sharing of relevant information around the betting and spot-fixing scandal.
The report, parts of which were shared with four persons summoned by the apex court and their counsel, said that IPL COO Sundar Raman knew about the betting activities of Meiyappan and Kundra but had not conveyed it to anyone because he has been advised by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit that the information was not actionable.
It added that Raman knew a bookie’s associate and had been in touch with him eight times during an IPL season but had denied being aware of his betting activities. It wasted no words in identifying Meiyappan as a CSK team official and confirmed that he had indulged in betting on IPL matches though there was no material available to show that he was involved in match-fixing.
Kundra of Rajasthan Royals came in for similar stricture on grounds he had violated the BCCI/IPL anti-corruption code by being in touch with bookies about betting and not reporting it. The report added that a Rajasthan Police probe against Kundra had been suddenly terminated after the case papers were transferred from Delhi Police.
November 28 is the day the Supreme Court bench will make known its observations and action on the Mudgal report and till such time, the fate of former IPL champions CSK and Rajasthan Royals hangs in the balance.
