The BCCI will inform the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has chosen a three-member panel to probe allegations of betting and spot-fixing during the sixth edition of IPL.
The three members are the former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Jai Narayan Patel, the former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, R.K. Raghavan, and the former India captain-turned-commentator, Ravi Shastri.
The names of 12 prominent cricketers and N. Srinivasan (his position as BCCI president suspended until the conclusion of the probe) figure in a report the Justice Mudgal Committee submitted to the apex court in a sealed cover.
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While hearing a case on the report last Wednesday, a Bench comprising Justices A.K. Patnaik and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla highlighted the institutional autonomy of the BCCI and asked it to come up with ways to take the probe forward. It asked the BCCI to respond by April 22 on the conduct of the probe.
Speaking to The Hindu, a few Working Committee members said a number of names were proposed, but eventually a near-unanimous decision was taken in favour of the three. Mr. Shastri was part of the 1983 World Cup winning team and has been part of the IPL Governing Council since 2008. He is also a member of the IPL Technical Committee and the Code of Behaviour Committee.
According to a few working committee members, Shashank Manohar (the former BCCI president who represented the Vidarbha Cricket Association at the meeting) was not in favour of R.K. Raghavan. “But he did not get support from any other member. How can anyone object to R.K. Raghavan; he has excellent credentials. There was a show of hands and 14 raised in favour of Raghavan among 15; it has been recorded. There was no animosity and the issues the BCCI is faced with were discussed,” said a senior BCCI member.
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The BCCI’s interim president, Shivlal Yadav, invited non-Working Committee members as special invitees and they took part in the deliberations.
The BCCI has decided to convene a special general body meeting in the second week of May to name a replacement for Mr. Srinivasan on the Disciplinary Sub-Committee.