Mudgal panel submits final report in IPL corruption case

The Mudgal committee investigating spot-fixing allegations in the IPL has submitted its final report to the Supreme Court, which will take it up on November 10. The report could determine, among other things, whether ICC chairman N Srinivasan can seek re-election as president of the BCCI.

"We have submitted the report in a sealed envelope to the court," Raju Ramachandran, a lawyer for the panel, told AFP, without elaborating.

The panel, which is headed by former judge Mukul Mudgal and includes ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly, had in February presented a sealed envelope to the court containing names of 13 individuals who needed to be probed further.

The panel's preliminary report had concluded that Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan - who was the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings franchise - could be guilty of illegal betting on IPL games.

Super Kings is owned by India Cements, whose managing director is Srinivasan.

The court barred Srinivasan from carrying out his duties as president of the BCCI until it had delivered its final verdict, but did not stop him from heading the ICC.

In May this year, following the panel's initial report into IPL corruption, the Supreme Court gave the Mudgal committee greater powers to investigate the contents of the sealed envelope that it had provided India's highest court along with the report. The sealed envelope contained names and details of allegations made against 13 individuals, including Srinivasan.

The committee was given assistance by former senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer BB Mishra, and greater investigative powers for search and seizure of relevant documents and the recording of evidence, though not the power to arrest. Mishra and the panel were provided with assistance from one senior police officer each from Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi, and it was the first two months of their investigation led to the panel submitting its interim report by the end of August.

This specific case dates back to June 2013 when AdityaVerma, secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), raised charges of a conflict of interest in the BCCI's original two-member inquiry panel for the IPL corruption issue. A Bombay High Court ruling later termed the probe panel "illegal". The BCCI and the CAB filed petitions in the Supreme Court against this order, with the CAB contending that the Bombay High Court could have suggested a fresh mechanism to look into the corruption allegations.

The Supreme Court then appointed a three-member committee, headed by former High Court judge Mukul Mudgal and comprising additional solicitor general L Nageswara Rao and Nilay Dutta to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of corruption against Meiyappan, India Cements, and Rajasthan Royals team owner Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd, as well as with the larger mandate of allegations around betting and spot-fixing in IPL matches and the involvement of players.