NEW DELHI: The owners of the Chennai Super Kings tried to downplay the role of a prominent cricket official yesterday after he was summoned by police in Mumbai for questioning in an ongoing spot-fixing scandal.
Gurunath Meiyappan, who is the son-in-law of Board of Control for Cricket in India President Narainswamy Srinivasan, is reported to have been in touch with Bollywood actor Vindoo Randhawa. Randhawa is said to be close to bookmakers at the center of an ongoing probe that started with the arrest of Test player Shantakumaran Sreesanth and two other cricketers. Vindoo has also reportedly said that Meiyappan lost Rs 10 million in betting.
Meiyappan was questioned by the Crime Branch in Mumbai late last night.
There is speculation over the future of the Chennai Super Kings with the BCCI consulting the rulebook of the Twenty20 league, which states that a franchise can be terminated if it fails to match certain defined criteria. Chennai may face termination if Meiyappan is arrested by the Mumbai Police.
Meiyappan had in the past been referred to as the chief executive and was present in players’ auctions as well as many post-match awards functions on behalf of the Chennai team, but owners yesterday decided to distance themselves from him.
“India Cements clarifies that Gurunath Meiyappan is neither the owner, nor CEO/Team Principal of Chennai Super Kings,” the company said in a statement. “Mr. Gurunath is only one of the Members (Honorary) of the Management Team of Chennai Super Kings.” Srinivasan, who is the Managing Director of India Cements, has often been criticized for holding offices which have a conflict of interest since he is both a top board official and runs a company that owns an IPL franchise.
Sahara India’s Subrota Roy expressed his disgust at the way the BCCI bosses, led by N. Srinivasan, treated an ally that backed Team India through its ups and downs.
Roy was clearly upset with the current set of BCCI officials and even though he did not name him, Roy indicated Sahara will never sponsor Team India as long as Srinivasan was around. “It’s really unfair, sad and irritating. The last 13-14 years we had enjoyed such a harmonious relationship, but after that it is so disgusting,” he said.
Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, and Arun Jaitley, the BCCI vice-president, have met the federal law minister, Kapil Sibal, in Delhi over the planned legislation to deal with corruption in sports. The two are also likely to meet the sports minister, Jitendra Singh.
CSK ‘may’ face ax over breach in IPL rulebook, seeks to downplay role of official
