IPL spot fixing scam: Two retd HC judges to be part of BCCI inquiry panel

NEW DELHI: The BCCI today constituted a three-man inquiry commission including two retired High Court judges to go into allegations against Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of Board President N Srinivasan, who has been arrested on charges of betting on IPL VI matches.

Justice T Jayaram Chouta, former Judge of the Karnataka and Madras High Courts, Justice R Balasubramanian, former Judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale are members of the Commission, which will also go into the allegations against three players of the Rajasthan Royals team and its franchise as well as the Chennai Super Kings, of which Meiyappan was the Team Principal.

"The IPL Governing Council today appointed a three-member Commission with two Independent Members to enquire into the complaints of the BCCI against the following persons/entities -- Gurunath Meiyappan; India Cements Ltd. the owner of the Chennai Super Kings Franchise; Jaipur IPL Pvt. Ltd. the owner of the Rajasthan Royals Franchise," Jagdale said in a statement.

BCCI sources said two judges were included after IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla and Board Vice President Arun Jaitley declined to be part of the probe commission in order to ensure that there is no question mark on the fairness of the probe.

Shukla and Jaitley are believed to have suggested that instead of one retired judge there could be two judges for a fair probe.

The sources claimed that on the day of the IPL final in Kolkata it was suggested to Srinivasan by Shukla and Jaitley that he step down from the post but he curtly turned it down

saying that stepping down is not in his nature. The BCCI release said the commission will be initiating the adjudication proceedings at the earliest.

Srinivasan, who has rejected calls for his resignation in the wake of the arrest of Meiyappan, had announced on Sunday that an inquiry would be constituted to probe the charges against his son-in-law.

He had also said the same procedures would apply in the case of Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who have been arrested on charges of spot fixing in IPL VI.