I stand vindicated, says Lalit Modi on Srinivasan's verdict by Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Claiming to have been vindicated after the Supreme Court barred N Srinivsan from contesting BCCI Presidential elections owing to conflict of interest, sacked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi today said the verdict will clean up corruption in the game.

"Extremely happy with the Hon. Supreme Court judgement on #srinivasan ..always believed that I would be vindicated #IPLVerdict," Modi said in a series of tweets after the apex court disallowed Srinivasan from fighting the BCCI Presidential election due to his stake in IPL team Chennai Super Kings.

"Decision by Hon. SC to disallow any administrator from having any commercial interest in cricket is bang on #IPLVerdict #SriniGameOver," he added.

Delivering its long-awaited verdict, the Supreme Court held that the allegation of betting against Gurunath Meiyappan, a CSK team official and son-in-law of the BCCI President-in-exile, and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra stands proved while the charge of cover up against Srinivasan "is not proved".

Striking down rules that permitted BCCI office bearers to have a commercial interest by owning teams in the hugely-popular Indian Premier League and Champions League, a two-member bench of Justices T S Thakur and F M I Khalifulla, said, "Amendment in the BCCI rules allowing Srinivasan to own IPL team is bad as conflict of interest in cricket leads to great confusion."

Modi said his position on conflict of interest has been proved right by the apex court.

"#Srinivasan knew all along that Rule 6.2.4 is unsustainable & illegal. #IPLVerdict now ensures a new @BCCI chief in 6 weeks. Time 4 cleanup," he said.

"Cannot agree more on SC's observation: "Game is a game only if it is pristine and free from any sporting fraud" #IPLVerdict is watershed!" he added.

The future of CSK and IPL could be in danger as IPL rules provide for cancellation of the franchise for misconduct by players, owners and officials of a team.