The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) two-member judges probe panel, enquiring into the Indian Premier League’s betting and related allegations against teams and key officials like Chennai Super Kings’ Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals’ Raj Kundra, had its first preliminary meeting here on Friday afternoon.
The panel, that includes Justice T. Jayaram Chouta and R. Balasubramanian, met the BCCI’s general manager (game development) Prof. Ratnakar Shetty and worked on the probe’s framework and other logistical modalities.
“The procedures that the (enquiry) commission should follow and the rules and regulations were discussed. Explanations from the three parties — Gurunath Meiyappan, owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were sought. They will all be given an opportunity to explain themselves in person, by the commission,” Shetty said. He added that Justice Chouta would be the probe panel chairman and that the commission will meet in Bangalore.
It may be recalled that the IPL was embroiled in controversy after allegations surfaced about spot-fixing against three Rajasthan Royals players — S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — and about betting against Meiyappan and Kundra. This forced the BCCI president N. Srinivasan to step aside till all the relevant enquiries are completed.
