A month after the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Mudgal committee submitted its report on allegations of betting and spot-fixing in the sixth season of the Indian Premier League, the apex court is expected to take up the matter on March 7.
The Mudgal committee report devotes a lot of space to allegations of betting and fixing allegations against two IPL team officials, Gurunath Meiyappan of the Chennai Super Kings, and Raj Kundra of the Rajasthan Royals.
The committee came to the conclusion that Meiyappan "was in regular touch with bookies and punters". Charge sheets filed by the Mumbai and Chennai police contain telephone transcripts of Meiyappan placing bets on IPL matches involving not just CSK, but other teams as well.
According to the report, Meiyappan would place bets, both in favour of Chennai and against the team. Bets were placed not only before matches, but also during the course of the games. Meiyappan is alleged to have mostly placed his bets through Vindoo Dara Singh, an actor who is also a bookie.
The report paid particular attention to the May 12 game between Chennai and Rajasthan in Jaipur. The transcript of calls made between Meiyappan and Singh during this match are available online.
The report said Meiyappan had predicted that Chennai would score between 130-140 runs in the game. They eventually scored 141 runs. Other factors that cast aspersions on this game, the report said, were:
1. Batting first, Chennai, which is a team full of big-hitting batsmen, did not hit a single six.
2. Chennai were 89 for the loss of one wicket in the 11th over, but could only reach 141 for four in 20 overs, despite having powerful hitters like Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo still at their disposal.
3. Meiyappan bet against his own team midway through the innings, especially when "the odds had shifted and were stacked against the Rajasthan Royals and heavy gains were to be made by betting at this time on Rajasthan Royals."
However, the committee observed that none of these points are strong enough to conclude that Meiyappan fixed matches. It could not find anything on record to suggest the involvement of any player acting at the behest of Meiyappan.
The company that owns the Chennai franchise, India Cements, denied that Meiyappan was the team principal or owner. Meiyappan's father-in-law, N Srinivasan, who is the managing director of India Cements and president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, had labelled Meiyappan a cricket "enthusiast" and nothing more.
However, the Mudgal commitee found enough evidence that Meiyappan was more than just an enthusiast. It was noted that "Meiyappan would be with the team (CSK) during the practice sessions, would be present during team meetings, at the auction table, in the owners dug out, participated in the IPL owners meet, travelled with the team, participated in the IPL owners workshop representing himself to be the owner of CSK and held out to the world at large as the Team Principal/Team Owner of CSK."
The committee also noted that Meiyappan "had knowledge of or was in position to easily access sensitive team information, team strategies, knowledge about match conditions, etc., which knowledge/information was otherwise outside the preview of an ordinary person following the game of cricket."
The committee stated that there was a "general perception" among many people who deposed before it that "matches involving CSK and other IPL teams were fixed and required through investigation." Among the people who had this perception were "two former presidents of BCCI".
If the Supreme Court concurs that Meiyappan was involved in betting, he could be deemed ineligible for being involved in the league for a minimum of one year and maximum of five years. In the scant likelihood that he is declared corrupt as well, the punishment would be increased to a minimum of five years and maximum of a lifetime ban. However, it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will declare him guilty of match fixing without asking investigation agencies to study the allegations.
The same holds true for Kundra, who has also been accused of betting by the committee. He and Shilpa Shetty, who is a co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals, are said to have violated the same sections of the IPL Operational Rules, IPL Anti-Corruption Code and IPL Code of Conduct for players and team officials, as Meiyappan did. Kundra was suspended by the BCCI in June pending an inquiry.
As for the franchises, CSK stands the chance of being terminated from the IPL if the Supreme Court agrees with the Mudgal report. The committee is of the opinion that CSK "is responsible for failing to ensure that Meiyappan complied with the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code, IPL Operational Rules, IPL Regulations".
However, the Rajasthan Royals aren't in the dock along with their owners.
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The Mudgal committee report devotes a lot of space to allegations of betting and fixing allegations against two IPL team officials, Gurunath Meiyappan of the Chennai Super Kings, and Raj Kundra of the Rajasthan Royals.
The committee came to the conclusion that Meiyappan "was in regular touch with bookies and punters". Charge sheets filed by the Mumbai and Chennai police contain telephone transcripts of Meiyappan placing bets on IPL matches involving not just CSK, but other teams as well.
According to the report, Meiyappan would place bets, both in favour of Chennai and against the team. Bets were placed not only before matches, but also during the course of the games. Meiyappan is alleged to have mostly placed his bets through Vindoo Dara Singh, an actor who is also a bookie.
The report paid particular attention to the May 12 game between Chennai and Rajasthan in Jaipur. The transcript of calls made between Meiyappan and Singh during this match are available online.
The report said Meiyappan had predicted that Chennai would score between 130-140 runs in the game. They eventually scored 141 runs. Other factors that cast aspersions on this game, the report said, were:
1. Batting first, Chennai, which is a team full of big-hitting batsmen, did not hit a single six.
2. Chennai were 89 for the loss of one wicket in the 11th over, but could only reach 141 for four in 20 overs, despite having powerful hitters like Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo still at their disposal.
3. Meiyappan bet against his own team midway through the innings, especially when "the odds had shifted and were stacked against the Rajasthan Royals and heavy gains were to be made by betting at this time on Rajasthan Royals."
However, the committee observed that none of these points are strong enough to conclude that Meiyappan fixed matches. It could not find anything on record to suggest the involvement of any player acting at the behest of Meiyappan.
The company that owns the Chennai franchise, India Cements, denied that Meiyappan was the team principal or owner. Meiyappan's father-in-law, N Srinivasan, who is the managing director of India Cements and president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, had labelled Meiyappan a cricket "enthusiast" and nothing more.
However, the Mudgal commitee found enough evidence that Meiyappan was more than just an enthusiast. It was noted that "Meiyappan would be with the team (CSK) during the practice sessions, would be present during team meetings, at the auction table, in the owners dug out, participated in the IPL owners meet, travelled with the team, participated in the IPL owners workshop representing himself to be the owner of CSK and held out to the world at large as the Team Principal/Team Owner of CSK."
The committee also noted that Meiyappan "had knowledge of or was in position to easily access sensitive team information, team strategies, knowledge about match conditions, etc., which knowledge/information was otherwise outside the preview of an ordinary person following the game of cricket."
The committee stated that there was a "general perception" among many people who deposed before it that "matches involving CSK and other IPL teams were fixed and required through investigation." Among the people who had this perception were "two former presidents of BCCI".
If the Supreme Court concurs that Meiyappan was involved in betting, he could be deemed ineligible for being involved in the league for a minimum of one year and maximum of five years. In the scant likelihood that he is declared corrupt as well, the punishment would be increased to a minimum of five years and maximum of a lifetime ban. However, it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will declare him guilty of match fixing without asking investigation agencies to study the allegations.
The same holds true for Kundra, who has also been accused of betting by the committee. He and Shilpa Shetty, who is a co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals, are said to have violated the same sections of the IPL Operational Rules, IPL Anti-Corruption Code and IPL Code of Conduct for players and team officials, as Meiyappan did. Kundra was suspended by the BCCI in June pending an inquiry.
As for the franchises, CSK stands the chance of being terminated from the IPL if the Supreme Court agrees with the Mudgal report. The committee is of the opinion that CSK "is responsible for failing to ensure that Meiyappan complied with the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code, IPL Operational Rules, IPL Regulations".
However, the Rajasthan Royals aren't in the dock along with their owners.
