IPL probe panel meets Srinivasan, Gurunath

N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, has appeared before the Mudgal committee investigating corruption in the IPL as part of a series of interviews it is conducting in Chennai. The committee also met with Gurunath Meiyappan, Srinivasan's son-in-law, who handed over a letter exercising his right to remain silent.

Gurunath chose not to explain his position and actions vis-a-vis the Chennai Super Kings to the committee because of the ongoing criminal case against him in the Bombay High Court - it was argued that making any statement before the committee would affect his right to defend himself in the criminal case. In any case this is not a judicial commission and Gurunath is not obliged to testify or otherwise appear before it.

The commission must now depend on documentary evidence currently available to it rather than depend on fresh clarifications from Gurunath.

The committee has also questioned Kris Srikkanth and Sundar Raman, the IPL chief executive, and will meet Ravi Sawani, the BCCI's anti-corruption unit chief, among others over the next two days.

So far, the three-man committee has questioned a number of people, including the three Rajasthan Royals players - Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Sidhharth Trivedi, while they have also met with the officials of Delhi and Mumbai police.

The probe committee's brief covers the corruption charges against Gurunath, CSK team owners India Cements, and Rajasthan Royals team owners Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Ltd, as well as a larger mandate of allegations around betting and spot fixing on IPL matches and the larger involvement of players.