N. Srinivasan Replies to Supreme Court, Says All Allegations Against him are False

Board of Control for Cricket in India's suspended president N. Srinivasan remained defiant, telling the Supreme Court on Monday, that all allegations against him are false. In a previous hearing, the court had raised issues of conflict of interest against Srinivasan. The court had also said that Srinivasan needed to answer questions regarding his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, who was indicted for betting in IPL 2013. The court had previously made a strong comment, saying Meiyappan's role in IPL scam was like 'insider trading.' (IPL scam: A Timeline)

"I acted with speed when I got to know about allegations against my son-in-law. BCCI launched a complaint against Meiyappan and Raj Kundra," Srinivasan told the apex court. (India Cements shares sink due to IPL scam)

Srinivasan's counsel Kapil Sibal stressed that a BCCI panel set up to probe the scam was constituted on the suggestion of Arun Jaitley, who was of the view that the inquiry should be free from BCCI's interference.

The two-member Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justice TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla said, "You are repeatedly naming Jaitley who is not represented here. He is not a party here. Don't attribute it to a person who is not represented here."

BCCI in its working committee meeting on May 28, 2013 had set up a three-member Commission comprising two retired judges as independent members and and one from the board with Srinivasan asking the Board to proceed against Meiyappan, who was an official of CSK, Sibal said.

He added that there was a suggestion in this regard from Arun Jaitley, who was of the view that there should not be interference by the Board into the probe.

However, the bench showered questions on the appointment of the commission and even observed "was it on the concurrence of the BCCI President".

"Who was at the helm of the working committee meeting? Who was heading the meeting?," the bench asked when Sibal was making the submissions.

The court also asked the BCCI to submit a note on the financial model of the Indian Premier League; as to how players are purchased and how franchises recover their money. The hearing will resume on December 8 when Srinivasan's lawyer Sibal is expected to make further arguments on the conflict of interest issue.

(With inputs from PTI)