Former BCCI president calls CBI probe in IPL

Shashank Manohar said that BCCI’s image has been tainted big

Former president of Board for Cricket for Control in India (BCCI), Shashank Manohar has asked for Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) probe into the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL). His comments came in the wake of spot-fixing scam verdict by the Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha committee.

"A probe by an independent body like the CBI is required, because the BCCI does not have investigating powers. It is only the CBI which has the investigating powers all over India, including in different states," Manohar was quoted saying by The Telegraph newspaper.

"The BCCI should immediately talk to the Centre and initiate a CBI probe into the matches that have come the scanner," he said.

When the spot-fixing issue came up in 2013, Manohar was in the favour of having CBI probe in every single match played during the season. In March 2014, he again gave the same statement in public after Justice Mukul Mudgal committee submitted the report.

He has always oppose the BCCI's anti-corruption unit, According to him, it lacks legal powers.

"The Anti-Corruption and Security Unit of the BCCI doesn't have enough powers... It's a toothless organisation. In fact, the BCCI doesn't have the machinery to probe corruption by players, officials and others," he told the newspaper.

The newspaper reported that Manohar met current BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata. Manohar didn't say anything about the meeting with Dalmiya when reporter contacted him.

He only gave his personal comments about the current situation in the Indian cricket board.

"I'll say that the BCCI certainly needs to be proactive and not wait for others to do what it should be doing. The only way that the BCCI can change the public's perception is through action. Mere words, no matter how strong, mean nothing.

"It's not good enough to keep repeating that we're honest and we want cricket to be clean. People would like to see action, steps being taken by the BCCI. Unfortunately, the BCCI has been doing nothing from May 2013, when scandals rocked the IPL," he told the newspaper further.

He further added that the image of the BCCI is going down in public's perception.

"Because of this inaction, the image of the BCCI has taken a beating. That of the IPL as well. Nobody is bigger than the game and, so, action must be taken without bringing in personal relationships or equations," Manohar maintained, his tone itself conveying much."