The Supreme Court on Friday agreed with the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee’s recommendation to appoint senior CBI officer Vivek Priyadarshi to head an investigation team probing the role and activities of IPL CEO Sundar Raman in the IPL spot-fixing and betting scam.
Mr. Priyadarshi, who has handled investigations into high-profile cases like the 2G Spectrum scam, replaces 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer B.B. Mishra, who retired on March 31, this year.
Besides examining the role of Mr. Raman and imposing a suitable punishment on him if found guilty, the three-judge committee led by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha will also decide the quantum of punishment for former BCCI president N. Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, and Rajasthan Royals IPL team part-owner, Raj Kundra. The apex court held that both had indulged in betting during the IPL. It has also taken up the job of administrative overhaul of the BCCI.
On February 22, the Lodha Committee decided that further investigation is necessary against Mr. Raman in the light of evidence collected by Mishra’s probe team.
But on being informed by Mr. Mishra that he would be retiring in March, the Committee had approached the Supreme Court. The apex court had then asked the Committee to consider another officer, following which Mr. Priyadarshi was zeroed in on. “We see no reason to decline the plea and accordingly Mr. Vivek Priyadarshi will head the investigating team in place of Mr. B.B. Mishra who has been superannuated from the service,” a Bench led by Justice T.S. Thakur ordered.
The apex court said the government would take steps to ensure that his service is made available to the Justice Lodha Committee in this task, in addition to his job in the CBI.
