New Delhi: Acting swiftly, the BCCI on Wednesday began the probe into the spot-fixing scandal that has rocked IPL with one of the suspended domestic players deposing before the Inquiry Commission even as the Sports Minister called for a ‘long-term solution’ to deal with the menace.
Barely a day after the BCCI cracked the whip by suspending five tainted players in the wake of the television sting operation which claimed to have exposed corruption in IPL, Ravi Sawani, who is heading the inquiry commission, met Shalabh Srivastava to hear his side of the story on the sting operation.
The meeting, which took place at a five-star hotel, is learnt to have lasted for an hour. There was, however, no official word from the BCCI on the development.
Sawani, a former chief of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), has been asked to submit his report to the BCCI’s Discplinary Committee within 15 days. Sawani is now the chief of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption unit.
Even as the BCCI began its investigations, Sports Minister Ajay Maken sought a proper probe into the spot-fixing allegation and suggested that the BCCI should de-link itself from running the Twenty20 league to avoid ‘overlapping of interests’.
“As I have said, the BCCI should go into the root cause of the problem. They have to handle the investigation because BCCI is recognised by the ICC to run cricket in India. It is their mandate and their duty. They are foremost responsible,” Maken said.
“Suspending five players is not enough. BCCI must come up with a long-term solution for this problem,” he said.
Maken also came out with a suggestion that BCCI should keep an arm’s distance from the IPL, citing the examples of English Premier League where the clubs run the tournament instead of the national football body.
“IPL should be at a arm’s distance from BCCI. It should not be under BCCI. IPL and BCCI should be away from each other so that there is no overlapping of interests,” he said.
Apart from Srivastava, the BCCI had on Tuesday suspended Mohnish Mishra, T P Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali with immediate effect pending inquiry. (PTI)