Chandila's lawyer criticises BCCI procedure

A day after Ajit Chandila was interrogated in New Delhi on Wednesday by the BCCI Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani, his lawyer has criticised the BCCI's procedure, alleging that the Sawani report has relied on police documents rather than original investigation.

"The BCCI's procedure in itself is faulty," Rakesh Kumar, Chandila's counsel, said. "They have appointed a commissioner for inquiry who is not conducting any investigation on his own. He is just relying on the police documents which are submitted to the court."

Kumar, who accompanied Chandila for the questioning that lasted nearly three hours, added that his client wasn't even "issued a show-cause notice". "I am not aware what are the charges against my client and they are simply holding him guilty. In case they go ahead and take severe action against my client, we will certainly challenge it in the court of law."

While the BCCI on September 13 announced the verdict on all the other five Royals cricketers who were allegedly involved in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, banning Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan for life, suspending Amit Singh for five years, Siddharth Trivedi for a year and clearing Harmeet Singh of all the charges, Chandila's case has been pending for long.

Since Chandila received bail on September 9, Sawani, who had been appointed to hand over a report to the BCCI disciplinary committee, couldn't meet the him earlier. As a result, the disciplinary committee of the BCCI had proceeded based on Sawani's finding on all the other players except Chandila.

"More than 10 days' notice had been served to Chandila before Sawani questioned him. Once his findings are forwarded to the disciplinary committee, the committee will then summon the player before pronouncing its verdict," a BCCI insider said.

That is unlikely to happen soon since Chandila has sought "seven to ten days' time" for submitting his written statement. Sawani can only finalise his findings once he receives the statement.