Bindra, Chopra to appear before BCCI

BCCI President A C Muthiah said here today that the committee’s findings would be placed before a general body meeting of the Board for a decision. He said Kamal Morarka has been replaced by N Amin of Baroda, a vice-president of the Board, in the committee when Bindra is interrogated, with the other two members of the committee being Muthiah (chairman) and K N Ramprasad of Karnataka.

On action against Chopra, Muthiah said, ‘‘The committee will go into the merit of the case and take into consideration the report submitted by K Madhavan, BCCI’s investigating officer, before deciding on the punishment to a player.’’Asked whether fresh findings of the income tax authorities (investigative wing) would be dealt with during Chopra’s inquiry, Muthiah said, ‘‘It has to be discussed with the player. Obviously, Madhavan could not have questioned him on this, as the inquiry was held much before the IT report.’’ Asked whether the decision on Chopra’s case would be announced tomorrow itself, Muthiah said, ‘‘It is premature to say anything. It all depends on the committee’s findings.’’

Chopra was initially the member of Indian team for the five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe late last year, but was not taken in the playing eleven in the opening match at Cuttack. He was subsequently excluded from the team on Muthiah’s directions as he had not been queried then by Madhavan.