Shocked at the revelations in the report submitted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal panel in a ‘sealed cover’, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan to step down on his own to ensure a fair inquiry into allegations of betting in the Indian Premier League.
A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Ibrahim Kalifullatold senior counsel Aryama Sundaram, appearing for the BCCI: “You ask Mr. Srinivasan to step down, otherwise we will give our verdict asking him to step down.”
Justice Patnaik said “unless the BCCI president steps down, there won’t be a fair inquiry. The man at the top must go. Why are you [Mr. Srinivasan] sticking to the post? It is nauseating. You [Mr. Sundaram] should be honest as a counsel and not as a lawyer for Mr. Srinivasan.”
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Justice Kalifulla said: “If there has to be a far and dispassionate inquiry, Mr. Srinivasan must step down.”
Mr. Sundaram told the court he had not seen the contents of the report in the sealed cover. Justice Patnaik then asked the counsel to come near the judges’ podium and showed him the conclusions in the report.
Justice Patnaik said: “Though there is no definite finding in the report in the sealed cover, the allegations are so serious they require further investigation, which the BCCI cannot do on its own and it has to be done by an outside agency.”
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