Chennai Super Kings should be disqualified: SC on IPL spot-fixing

The Supreme Court of India on 27 November 2014 observed that Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) should be disqualified without any further enquiry. The observation of the SC came while hearing the Mudgal report Committee probe on IPL spot-fixing.

The court observed that as a consequence to the Mudgal Committee probe, the CSK needs to be disqualified because by owning CSK and being BCCI chief, Srinivasan had breached the provision of conflict of interest.

The court also expressed displeasure over India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni holding the post of vice-president in India Cements owned by Srinivasan and also being the captain of the India Cements owned CSK team. It said that dual role is a matter of concern.

The court also observed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should proceed with elections and Srinivasan should stay out of it.

Further, SC observed that betting by Gurunath Meiyappan - son-in-law of the sidelined BCCI president N. Srinivasan - was like insider trading wherein even if he was not placing bets in his own name, he was passing on the information to bookies.

These observations were made by the SC bench of Justice T S Thakur and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla.

Earlier in November 2014, Supreme Court had disclosed names of few personalities, who were probed by the Justice Mudgal Committee for alleged links to the IPL spot-fixing scandal. The disclosed names include
• N. Srinivasan, former President of BCCI
• Sunder Raman, BCCI chief operating officer (COO)
• Raj Kundra, Rajasthan Royals co-owner
• Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings team principal

CSK, led by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is owned by the India Cements company of which Srinivasan is the managing director and has won the seven-year-old IPL tournament twice in 2011 (IPL Season 3) and 2012 (IPL Season 4).