SC faces tricky questions in Mudgal report hearing on IPL corruption

The Supreme Court adjourned its hearing on the Mudgal Committee report on 25 March today in order to consider the BCCI’s reply to the report. That means potentially explosive revelations could now take place just a couple of weeks before the IPL begins. The committee’s report, released publicly last month, concluded that Gurunath Meiyappan, BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law, was the de facto owner of the Chennai Super Kings and that he had not only bet on the IPL, but also passed information on the matches to others. [caption id=“attachment_1422597” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational Image. BCCI[/caption] Raj Kundra, one of the co-owners of the Rajasthan Royals, was also investigated but the committee did not find conclusive evidence that he bet on IPL matches. It did, however, recommend further investigation into the allegations of Kundra. While the Committee’s findings are not binding on the Supreme Court or the BCCI, they raise uncomfortable questions and the country’s top court will have to decide how to handle them. Among the trickiest are the following two: 1) The report has recommended that an IPL match between CSK and Rajasthan Royals be investigated for fixing. If the Supreme Court goes ahead and follows the recommendation, how will CSK and RR be able to play in the 2014 IPL? Following the precedent of players being suspended while they are investigated, surely the two teams must be suspended pending the findings of the investigation? That would, obviously, throw the 2014 event into complete disarray. There is enough circumstantial evidence in the report on which to base an investigation. Whether the Supreme Court will see fit to intervene in what is essentially a private tournament organised by a private body remains to be seen. If it does anything at all, it is more likely it will ask the BCCI to conduct its own inquiry and submit a report to the court. 2) The Committee handed the court six names it believes should be investigated for fixing. MS Dhoni’s name is reportedly one of them. Considering Dhoni was involved in trying to cover-up for CSK and its owners in claiming Meiyappan was just “an enthusiast”, will the court be willing to shake the foundations of the sport in the country by ordering a probe against Dhoni and the other five? The repercussions of such a move could be enormous in the short run. In the long run, it would help to clean up the game, but the hearing will now take place during the 2014 ICC World T20 and with the 2015 World Cup only a year away, Indian cricket would be plunged into turmoil if investigations are ordered. That makes it unlikely the Supreme Court will go down this road. The BCCI has asked the court not to make the names public and any investigation would require the names be disclosed, so the chances of an investigation are slim. One hopes the Supreme Court will ask the board why it thinks an investigation should not take place before the players named are declared innocent, but that is not certain. Besides, the SC already has a lot on its plate already of much greater consequence to the citizens of this country than policing a sport, however much the post might inflame passions. The Mudgal committee was headed by retired High Court Judge Justice Mukul Mudgal, who was joined by additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta, who is also an Assam Cricket Association member. The committee was set-up in October 2013 in response to a case originally filed by Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma in the Bombay High Court last June alleging conflict of interest in the BCCI’s two-member inquiry panel that originally cleared Meiyappan, Kundra and their respective franchises. The High Court ruled the probe was illegal but left it up to the BCCI to decide what to do next. The board appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, after which the CAB filed a petition with the Supreme Court saying the Bombay High Court should have ordered a fresh investigation. The Mudgal Committee’s brief was to investigate the allegations of corruption against Gurunath, CSK’s owners India Cements, Kundra and Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd, the owners of the RR. It was also asked to look at the bigger picture of betting and spot-fixing in IPL matches. This article has been updated since the Supreme Court adjourned the case.