Indian sports law update 19 Feb 2014
Indian cricket continues to face sporting fraud allegations
According to the ESPN Cricinfo article, the Justice Mudgal IPL Probe Committee, originally established to investigate the IPL match-fixing and betting cases sent a “sealed envelope” to the Supreme Court of India on Monday, February 10th with information about “sporting fraud” allegations, relating to last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) scandal.
The report clarified that because "these are mere allegations" the committee does not want to draw attention to specific individuals yet.
The dissenting report by Nilay Dutta, a senior advocate and member of the Assam Cricket Association, the governing body in the state of Assam in India, explained the investigations in further detail, disagreeing with Mudgal Committee's main report, especially with regard to Meiyyapan's confirmed charges (see the following article summary below). This minority report mentions occurrences such as the "conversation between two bookies on May 15," the conversations, and the involvement of foreign and national players in "betting activities." However, because of his dissent, Dutta is facing allegations of his own, as of February 17th, for "trying to protect officials of the Indian cricket authority," because he asked for forensic tests to be conducted on Meiyyapan before confirming any allegations against him.
According to the Economic Times article on Dutta's dissent, the Supreme Court plans to address Mudgal's and Dutta's reports on March 7th.
Source Articles:
Judge Mudgal Committee's final report on the IPL's sporting fraud allegations:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/717981.html
Nilay Dutta's dissent leads to allegations against him:
Meiyappan found guilty of "illegal betting" in Indian Premier League
The NDTV Sports article explained that Gurunath Meiyappan, the son-in-law of N. Srinivasan who heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and soon the International Cricket Council (ICC), was charged on Monday, February 10th by the Supreme Court for his participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scandal last year. The report issued by the Judge Mudgal Committee (see above article) highlights the spot- fixing and betting cases in the IPL. The retired judge, Mukul Mudgal, was appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate these IPL cases. Meiyappan, "a team principle of two time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK)," which was owned by N. Srinivasan, had allegedly passed information to bookies and placed bets on the IPL. These allegations are now proven through Mudgal's report. The allegations relating to Meiyappan's involvement in spot fixing during the IPL are still being further investigated.
As N. Srinivasan, Meiyappan's father-in law, is the president of the BCCI and will be the first chairman of the new ICC Executive Board, Mudgal's report has raised concerns about Srinivasan's leadership and involvement, according to theIBNLive article. A C Muthaiah, "former chairman of the BCCI and a one time mentor of Srinivasan", explained to CNN-IBN that Srinivasan will probably stand by his original explanation that he did no wrong. Muthaiah believes that there is a "clear case of conflict of interest," and that Srinivasan will have to "step down" if accused. However, when Meiyappan's involvement in the IPL betting was first exposed, Srinivasan's actions showed that he would not go with a fight.
Source Articles:
Meiyappan found guilty through Mudgal's sporting fraud report:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1086325/bcci-chief-to-defy-calls-to-quit-over-ipl-betting-scandal
Mudgal's report prompts questions about N Srinivasan:
Further to the above here is a summary of the charges against Meiyappan with regards to his involvement in IPL spot-fixing scandal from September 2013
The son-in-law of the BCCI president N Srinivasan, Gurunath Meiyappan was charged with "cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy." His questioning was potentially going to link the Mumbai police to Asad Rauf, the Pakistani umpire who left India during the IPL though the Mumbai police "wanted to question him in person." Rauf was also in the chargesheet filed Saturday (yesterday) as a "wanted accused." Rauf holds that he is innocent and was not connection with the bookies.
Meiyappan has been charged under the following sections of the Indian Penal code: 415, 420, and 417, as well as section 130 of the Bombay Police Act, all of which deal with cheating, fraud, and "cheating at games." Additionally, he has been charged under two sections of the Gambling Act. Meiyappan is said to have passed on "crucial information" to similarly charged officials.
This story is a major point of concern for Srinivasan before his re-election hearing later this month. Thus, Srinivasan "distanced himself" from Meiyappan a few days before the charge sheet was filed and continues to reiterate that he has nothing to do with Meiyappan's on-going case or potential charges. The board does not want to extendSrinivasan's two-year presidency for another year however and plans to deny his efforts.
Source Articles:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/673261.html
For Rauf's stance on his own innocence:
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