Police officer who probed IPL scam to depose before Supreme Court panel

The Mumbai Police have received a letter from the Supreme Court appointed probe panel to look in to allegations of betting and spot-fixing in this season's Indian Premier League. In a letter signed by Additional Solicitor General Nageshwara Rao, the panel has asked the police to assign a concerned officer to depose before the panel on the 5th and 6th of November.

"A letter written by the committee was received by us today. The committee asked us to send an officer, who probed the IPL betting case registered by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, for deposition on November 5 and 6," a crime branch officer said.

Sources in the Mumbai police say, along with the chargesheet the police will submit a comprehensive document listing the charges and evidence against Gurunath Meiyappan, the son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan.

The crime branch will now prepare a detailed report which would be in possession of the officer while deposing before the Supreme Court-appointed committee.

The committee would also be provided the charge sheet of the case, besides telephonic transcripts available with the police.

Gurunath Meiyappan was chargesheeted in September 21 along with actor Vindoo Dara Singh and 20 others by the Mumbai police in the IPL betting case for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, four months after the scandal rocked the cricketing world.

Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and 15 alleged bookies from that country have been named as "wanted accused" in the 11,500-page charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court.

The panel was set up by the Supreme Court after a petition by the Cricket Association of Bihar alleging mismanagement. The apex court had upheld the decision of the Bombay High Court, terming the first panel set up by the BCCI as illegal and unconstitutional. The apex court also directed the setting up of a new panel to probe the allegations of spot-fixing and betting. The current panel consists of Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Mukul Mudgal, Additional Solicitor General Nageshwara Rao and Senior Advocate Nilay Dutta.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had called the first probe panel set up by the BCCI illegal and unconstitutional. The two retired judges on that panel which conducted the probe said in their report that there was no evidence against Mr Meiyappan, Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and the Chennai IPL franchise. But their findings were contested by the Mumbai police, who said their inputs were not included in the report.

(with PTI inputs)