Supreme Court orders fresh probe into IPL spot-fixing scandal, Srinivasan's return delayed

N Srinivasan

In a blow to N Srinivasan’s hopes of taking charge as BCCI president for a third term, the Supreme Court of India has ordered a separate probe into the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

The three-member probe will be led by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC, Mukul Mudgal, and will look into the IPL betting case.

Srinivasan was unanimously elected for the post for a third time on 29th September at the BCCI AGM in Chennai but was barred from taking full control till the petition registered in the apex court by Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) was cleared.

CAB had filed a petition trying to stop Srinivasan from contesting the BCCI elections while a case against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was going on.

Though the SC had cleared Srinivasan from contesting the elections, it included a rider in its judgement, which denied the BCCI chief full control till the case was closed.

On 30th September, the SC bench comprising of Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar were critical of the manner in which BCCI was functioning, saying, “there is something wrong”.

Despite noting that BCCI had “lost its credibility”, they asserted that Srinivasan was re-elected “democratically” and underlined the importance of a head in an organisation like BCCI.

On the cricketing field, this development puts the tour of South Africa under further doubts as BCCI, after being silent on the issue in the past few days after the AGM, was reported to be waiting for Srinivasan being reinstated before a call on the tour is taken.

India were supposed to tour South Africa from November this year, but after slotting in a two-match Test series against West Indies and preponing the New Zealand tour next year, the window was squeezed to have a possibility of a bare-minimum two-Test three-ODI series.

But with now Srinivasan’s future in a limbo, more uncertain times are ahead for what was supposed to be an India-South Africa marquee series.