New Delhi: In a new turn in the IPL betting and match fixing probe, the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee may conduct an inquiry into N Srinivasan and 12 others, including some prominent cricketers, after the Supreme Court ignored a BCCI panel for the job on Tuesday.
“We have given our consent. It is subject to the Supreme Court approval on Tuesday (April 29),” said Justice Mudgal, who had headed a three-member committee that had submitted a report in a sealed envelope to the court making serious allegations against Srinivasan and some capped players.
The consent of the panel headed by Mudgal, a retired Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, was conveyed to the Committee’s counsel Gopal Subramanium after the court had, in the morning, asked whether it would be willing to continue with its inquiry.
Mudgal told the media that once the court accepts their consent, the committee will sit and finalise the procedures of how to move forward and also decide whether any new member should be included.
During its earlier probe, Mudgal was assisted by Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao and lawyer Niloy Dutta.
A bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik said that it would pass its order on April 29 regarding the assistance that the committee would require to conduct the probe.
It said the committee will be given assistance by investigating agencies.
The apex court also allowed Srinivasan and the BCCI to hear some portions of the Mudgal committee’s interactions with Srinivasan, MS Dhoni and Chief Operating Officer of IPL 7 Sundar Raman.
It asked the probe committee to provide audio recordings to the Supreme Court’s Secretary General, who will make arrangements for the BCCI’s and Srinivasan’s counsel to hear the tapes in the apex court.
The court asked the Board and Srinivasan to maintain complete confidentiality of the contents of the audio tapes and not to leak them to anybody.
“Any content of the audio recordings going out means cricket would be blackened in the country,” the bench said.
The audio recordings will be heard in the presence of the Secretary General by advocate Amit Sibal on behalf of Srinivasan and advocate Rohini Musa on behalf of the Board.
The BCCI also pleaded that there should be no hurdle in the way of Srinivasan in going attending ICC meetings because of the pending case.
The bench, however, said that there will be no problem for Srinivasan if it decides not to remove him from the BCCI, but he will face problems in case he is removed from the cricket board. (PTI)
