From Australia to Marina: This is Gurunath Meiyappan's yacht

Guess what could be in the dock (literally!) after Chennai Super Kings ’enthusiast’ and one time team principal Gurunath Meiyappan after his arrest in connection with an illegal betting racket in the IPL? His 5 crore yacht docked at the marina in Chennai port. The Mumbai Police had raided the luxury double decker yacht ‘Riviera 53 Enclosed Flybridge’ that belonged to CSK’s alleged owner and BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Meiyappan. They recovered a mobile phone from the yacht along with 47 CSK team jerseys, three SIM cards and shopping bags. The mobile phone could contain crucial evidence for their investigations, police officials said. [caption id=“attachment_822767” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Riviera yacht that belongs to Gurunath Meiyappan. Firstpost. [/caption] The Hindu reports that the luxury yacht cost Meiyappan 5 crore along with a custom duty of 3 crore. The cruiser’s delivery was reportedly delayed by the Customs department by a couple of days as the base duty was hiked from 10 to 25 per cent in the last Union budget. However, Deccan Chronicle reports that Australian cricketer and former Chennai Super Kings player, Mathew Hayden, may have been the original owner of the yacht and sold it to Meiyappan for Rs 12.5 crore. However, unnamed sources have told The Hindu that the yacht was imported from Riviera’s Gold Coast factory in Australia last month. Shipped from Gold Coast to Hong Kong, it was lying there for over four months because they could not find a ship to haul it to Chennai port. The Hindu also explained why the yacht is at the Chennai port:

A Chennai Port official told The Hindu that the cruiser, described as a growing breed of yacht with “fishability” as one of its features, was allowed to berth at an exclusive spot on a request from the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association, of which Mr. Meiyappan is an institutional member

And it wasn’t just Meiyappan who enjoyed cruises on the yacht. A Deccan Chronicle report states that many  CSK cricketers who would go on a cruise on the yacht while the IPL season was on.