Secret Mudgal report is out: 12 players, 3 new teams named

The sealed envelope handed in by the Mudgal Commission has been an intriguing sub-plot to the entire Supreme Court vs Board of Control for Cricket in India trial. During the recent trial that took place, a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said there are “very very serious” allegations made in the report and unless the BCCI President N Srinivasan steps down, no fair probe can be conducted. More than anything else, it was these allegations that forced Srinivasan to step aside and prompted the SC to appoint Sunil Gavaskar in his place. But still no one other than the SC judges and the Mudgal Commission knew exactly what was there in the report. [caption id=“attachment_1464069” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Srinivasan was forced to step aside by the Supreme Court. Reuters[/caption] Well, at least in part, the secret is out now. It was widely speculated that the envelope contained the names of six players including a couple of current India stars. But according to a report in The Indian Express, the number of players mentioned in the report is even higher. The Indian Express report says: “The confidential report on suspected corruption in the IPL submitted to the Supreme Court by the Mudgal panel is believed to contain “unverified” allegations against 12 or 13 players, and not just six as believed.” “These dozen or so players belong to Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, whose owners are already being investigated in the corruption scandal, and three other teams. This implies that the cloud of betting and match-fixing hangs over players from five of the eight teams in the T20 tournament.” The Indian Express article also mentioned that Delhi Police investigators had also hinted on the same lines when they launched a probe into the betting scandal. The Mudgal Commission also lists three top office-bearers of the Indian Premier League who have been “closely involved in the organisation of the IPL for several years.” The sealed envelope, however, mentioned the need for a probe into all the mentioned players, teams, officials and owners, saying that the allegations have not been substantiated. The Mudgal Commission, led by Mukul Mudgal, did the name anyone as it did not want to sully their reputation before an investigation is conducted.