IPL-betting: Mumbai Police team appears before SC-named panel

MUMBAI: Mumbai Crime Branch chief today shared evidence against former Chennai Super Kings owner Gurunath Meiyappan with the Supreme Court-appointed panel probing into the betting and spot-fixing case of this year's Indian Premier League.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy showed up before the committee in a five-star hotel where he and his team submitted evidence gathered, particularly against BCCI chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Meiyappan, to the panel, police sources said.

"We appeared before the committee and gave them whatever proof they sought from us regarding the case," Roy, who was accompanied by Additional Commissioner of Police Niket Kaushik and Investigating Officer Nandkumar Gopale, said.

The three-member panel, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, may call the Crime Branch team again, sources said.

The committee, also comprising Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, has been asked to investigate allegations of betting and spot-fixing in IPL matches against Meiyappan, some cricketers and owner of IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR).

The SC appointed the committee after a petition was filed against the BCCI probe panel, which exonerated Meiyappan and other team owners but handed out varied bans to cricketers.

The Committee is specifically focusing on the alleged roles of Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals' players in two IPL scandal cases registered by Mumbai and Delhi Police.

Meiyappan was chargesheeted on September 21 along with actor Vindoo Dara Singh and 20 others by Mumbai Police in the IPL betting case, four months after the scandal rocked the cricketing world. They have been charged with forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, among others.

Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and 15 alleged bookies from the neighbouring country have been named as "wanted accused" in the 11,500-page chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court.

The Crime Branch also shared the chargesheet copy with the panel, besides the telephonic conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan which showed the two were involved in betting, sources said.