'N. Srinivasan Secretly Met Chennai Super Kings, IPL Officials in Ranchi'
Aditya Verma, whose petition triggered a Supreme Court probe into the IPL fixing and betting scandal, has alleged that suspended BCCI president N. Srinivasan has secretly met BCCI and Chennai Super King team officials in Ranchi.
"N. Srinivasan is openly defying Supreme Court orders. He should be blacklisted like Subrata Roy of Sahara," said Aditya Verma to sports.ndtv.com after claiming that he has enough "evidence" to prove that the suspended Board of Control for Cricket in India president secretly met Chennai Super Kings and Indian Premier League Governing Council members in Ranchi on Tuesday.
Verma's Cricket Association of Bihar is the petitioner in the 2013 IPL match-fixing and betting case that is being heard in court since June last year. The Supreme Court has already stripped Srinivasan off his powers as BCCI chief and instructed that he should not participate in IPL affairs. The top court had appointed Sunil Gavaskar as interim president to govern IPL and steer the all-important Governing Council.
"Mr Srinivasan met Chennai and IPL officials at Hotel Radisson Blu in Ranchi and he was in room No. 719. According to law, he is clearly violating the Supreme Court order," Verma said. Chennai are playing their 'home' IPL games in Ranchi and were staying at Radisson Blu.
In an interview to Mid-day, BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel rubbished Verma's claims. Patel said: "This is news to me as well. I have no knowledge of what he (Verma) is saying. Srinivasan is respecting the Supreme Court's directive and has stayed away from all IPL-related matters. The Supreme Court has not said that he cannot travel out of Chennai. It is his personal life and we (BCCI) do not interfere in that."
On Wednesday, Verma shot a letter to Gavaskar asking him to clarify how Srinivasan was allowed to meet IPL Governing Council members.
"Being a petitioner in this matter, I want your clarification regarding Srinivasan staying in Ranchi during the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals match," Verma said.
"He also arranged a secret meeting with the GC of IPL and management of CSK in Ranchi with the help of the President of Jharkhand State Cricket Association who is a member of the GC of IPL. This is a serious issue and I want to know that are you aware of that meeting?" he asked.
"If you don't know then you have to take action against the involved persons," Verma added. Till the time of writing this report, neither BCCI nor Gavaskar have replied to Verma. An angry Verma said: "The court wants to clean cricket and we have faith in Mr Gavaskar. Why doesn't he check hotel footage to find out who Mr Srinivasan met?"
Verma also points out to a recent interview in the Indian Express where IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal has been quoted as saying: "Look, Srinivasan has stepped aside, honouring the instruction of the Supreme Court. But overall, he is the president of BCCI. I have to be in touch with him for other aspects. But touch wood, Srinivasan is not interfering at all in any IPL matters."