Alleging perjury, former BCCI president N Srinivasan wants Anurag Thakur’s criminal prosecution

In this application, the BCCI secretary said Srinivasan had barged into the Kolkata working committee meeting on August 28 and insisted upon attending it. The BCCI had also cited alleged conflict of interest, claiming srinivasan was also a trustee in the India Cements Shareholders Trust that owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.

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Countering both these statements, Srinivasan, in his fresh plea, has said Thakur’s statement was “completely false” and that affidavits by three other BCCI officials would falsify his averment. Srinivasan has submitted affidavits of BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary, BCCI vice-president T C Mathew and joint secretary of Kerala Cricket Association Jayesh George in his support.

Their affidavits stated that Srinivasan was already seated when the meeting began and nobody objected to his presence. Further, the meeting got adjourned sine die without any discussion and hence there was no occasion for Srinivasan to declare he has no conflict of interest as mentioned in the BCCI’s application, as per the plea.

Srinivasan claimed there is no record or minutes of the meeting of the working committee which recorded that he “barged in” or “insisted upon” attending the meeting. “The averments in the false (BCCI) application can then only be personal to Anurag Thakur, who has abused the process of this court by filing his personal false affidavit in the garb of an affidavit on behalf of the BCCI,” said Srinivasan.

About his being a trustee in the India Cements, Srinivasan said this statement is “shocking and is a disgrace to the position held by Anurag Thakur” who, in his attempt to “sensationalise” the affidavit sought to create a confusion between him and his namesake, another N Srinivasan, who is a former partner of a chartered accountancy firm in Chennai. Thakur has also moved a plea to rectify this “factual error” about the namesake but Srinivasan said there was no scope for confusion since there were records available with BCCI to make everything clear.

The plea termed it as a “blatant lie” on Thakur’s part to say that controversial rule, 6.2.4 that allowed cricket administrators to have stakes in IPL and Champions League, was brought in to accommodate Srinivasan and his interests in Chennai Super Kings.

“While the records of the BCCI show the reasons for amendments to be unrelated to personal interests of the applicant or that of the interest of India Cements Ltd, to say that amendment was to benefit the applicant would be an egregious lie,” contended Srinivasan, reminding Thakur he was also present in the 2008 meeting in which the amendment was allowed.

If it is to be assumed that every office bearer of the BCCI as well as every representative of the state associations was a party to this “fraud,” Srinivasan said, this would also include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who as the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association had in 2009 annual general meeting confirmed amendment to rule 6.2.4.

Asserting that Thakur has intentionally given false evidence, Srinivasan has sought his prosecution for perjury over his affidavit by which he has tried to portray former BCCI chief as the “villain, preventing the functioning of the board.”

The plea seeks charges under Sections 193 and 209 of the Indian Penal Code, which can fetch a maximum seven years in jail.