BCCI gives clean chit to Raina, Jadeja who were named in Lalit Modi letter to ICC

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board today said that it has given a clean chit to the two Indian players who were named in a letter sent by former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2013.

Anurag Thakur, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said that ICC has not informed BCCI of any wrongdoing. "Lalit Modi had written to ICC and they then informed us about the letter. The three players named are international players and they fall under the jurisdiction of ICC. They have to ensure and prepare a report. They have not reported anything so far so in a way it’s a clean chit for these players to play," Thakur said, at a press conference to announce the Indian team for the tour of Zimbabwe.

Last week, a letter written by Lalit Modi to ICC CEO Dave Richardson in June 2013 surfaced on Twitter. In the leaked letter, Modi said he was passing on some information he had got, which, Richardson thought fit he could pass on to the anti-corruption unit of the council.

In the letter he named three international cricketers—Indians Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja and West Indian Dwayne Bravo—alleging that the three had taken bribes (money and apartments) from a builder who was also a bookie. All the three currently play for the Chennai Super Kings IPL team.

The ICC, in a statement yesterday, confirmed that "Mr Modi’s confidential e-mail, which was received in June 2013, and which has recently been published on Twitter, was provided to the ACSU at the time. The ACSU handled that information in accordance with its standard operating procedures, which included sharing it with the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit."

Thakur said that had ICC found any wrong doing, they would have informed us (BCCI).

When asked about the identity of the Rajasthan Royals player who had been allegedly approached by a Mumbai Ranji player just before the 2015 IPL season began, Thakur said that the board does not disclose the name of players and that the player education regarding such issues had worked as the player reported the matter immediately. "Once the final report is made, we will take a final call," he said.