Supreme Court to hold second hearing on Mudgal Committee report

The Supreme Court will hold its second hearing on the Justice Mudgal Committee report on IPL spot-fixing and betting tomorrow. The court had adjourned its first hearing held on 7 March in order to study the BCCI’s response, which the board had submitted the day before. The 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_1448515” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gurunath Meiyappan and MS Dhoni. Twitter[/caption] On the subject of spot or match fixing, the committee concluded there was not enough evidence to exonerate or condemn Meiyappan and so recommended further investigation. It also investigated Raj Kundra, one of the co-owners of the Rajasthan Royals, but dujd not find conclusive evidence that he bet on IPL matches. In this case, it also recommend further investigation into the allegations.. Where the committee deviated from its brief was to submit a list of six names, including at least one current India player, that came up in the course of its investigations. The committee sealed the names because no investigation of the players has taken place but it felt duty bound to report them to the court because they had come in the course of other investigations. In a separate report, Nilay Dutta, one of the three members of the committee, recommended the match between CSK and Rajasthan Royals from last season be probed as well. While the BCCI has done a u-turn and accepted that Gurunath Meiyappan was a Chennai Super Kings, having earlier said he was just an enthusiast, they have claimed he was not a team owner and therefore no fault should lie with the team or the team owners, India Cements. They have also asked that the six names of players submitted to the court in a sealed envelope should not be made public because nothing has been proved against these players. Since the last hearing, Zee TV’s sting operation that caught Vindoo Dara Singh on camera saying the entire IPL is fixed was submitted to the court, which accepted the footage as part of the evidence. The committee’s findings are not binding on the court (or the BCCI) and it is up to the court to direct the next step. In a significant way, the integrity of the game depends on what they choose to do.