Opinion Cover-up,not quite clean-up

Srinivasan's flimsy defence during his media briefing on Sunday was that Gurunath was travelling with the team because he was an 'enthusiast'.

May 27, 2013 03:57 AM IST First published on: May 27, 2013 at 03:57 AM IST

The Indian cricket boards clean-up operation of the spot-fixing scandal is increasingly looking like a cover-up. More so after the suspension of Gurunath Meiyappan,a move that has made the muddle murkier.

By afternoon it was clear that the action against Gurunath was taken to salvage the position of the BCCI president N Srinivasan,who himself audaciously announced the appointment of a three-member commission (with one non-BCCI official in it) to investigate the charges against Gurunath. He didnt stop there. Srinivasan even named a five-member group from which two will make it to the probe panel.

Making the farce complete was the fact that two of that pool,secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke,were sitting alongside the BCCI president as he made the announcement. The others vice president Arun Jaitley,Rajiv Shukla and former all-rounder Ravi Shastri are members of the IPL governing council,the core group which too should go under the scanner because of the magnitude of the scandal. Shastri is also a contracted commentator with the BCCI.

More so,the independence of the commission is seemingly compromised because Srinivasan wears two hats that of BCCI president and vice-chairman/managing director of India Cements Limited,the company that bid for the Chennai franchise ownership rights.

The question must be asked if these men can be free,fair and fearless if and when they question the BCCI president about Gurunaths influence over players and his access to CSK team strategy.

Gurunath has been seen at team auctions,in player dug outs,stayed at team hotels,at practice sessions chatting with CSK players and had a twitter profile that stated he was team principal of CSK shortly before he was arrested on Friday.

Choosing to ignore these facts,Srinivasans flimsy defence during his media briefing on Sunday was that Gurunath was travelling with the team because he was an enthusiast. Even more baffling is that none of the BCCI members an eclectic mix of powerful politicians,legal luminaries and leading businessmen have raised a voice of dissent against this bizarre series of events.

Nihal is a senior assistant editor based in New Delhi

nihal.Koshie@expressindia.com