Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently refused to grant relief to cricketer Hiken Shah, rejecting his plea to reduce his five-year suspension from playing or representing cricket in any form after he was found guilty of corruption.
A Division Bench comprising Justices R.M. Borde and R.G. Ketkar was hearing a petition filed by Mr. Shah, objecting to the order passed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on January 18, 2016 banning him for five years. He has been charged under articles dealing with corruption under the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code. The committee appointed by the Supreme Court refused to consider his plea, as he has been booked under the Code’s Article 5, which mandates a ban of minimum five years.
According to the testimony given by IPL team Rajasthan Royals player Pravin Tambe, Mr. Shah had asked to meet him on March 13, 2015. During the meeting, he sought to know if Mr. Tambe was interested in making money and mentioned that it was to do with fixing matches. After the meeting, Mr. Tambe had called the Sports Director, DY Patil Sports Academy and Raghu Iyer, CEO, Rajasthan Royals and told them about the conversation.
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Mr. Shah had contended that the reference to ‘fixing’ in the statement had nothing to do with IPL matches, and that he was referring to admission to courses at the DY Patil College. While dismissing the petition, the Bench recorded the committee’s view in the order.