Apex court asks Mudgal if he would probe IPL scandal

Not favouring the probe panel proposed by the Indian cricket board, the Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee if it would investigate the IPL's betting and spot fixing scandal last year.

A bench of Justice A.K.Patnaik and Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla asked the counsel for Mudgal committee to apprise the court April 29 whether he would take up the task.

As it resumed hearing in the post-lunch session Tuesday, the court said that if Mudgal decides to undertake the probe, he will also name the investigation agency that would assist his committee in investigating the matter.

The court also said that Mudgal committee will also submit to the office of the apex court's Secretary general the audio recording of the interaction that Indian skipper M.S.Dhoni, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan and IPL's chief operating officer Sunder Raman had with the probe committee.

The secretary general would in turn inform the lawyers Rohini Mousa and Amit Sibal of the date and time when that audio would be played for then.

Justice Mudgal earlier submitted a report, as asked by the Supreme Court, that had indicted Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of Srinivasan, for involvement in betting during the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.

The court's decision to ask Mudgal to head the panel shows that it is not inclined to accept the three-member panel proposed by the BCCI for a free and fair probe. The panel was to have Ravi Shastri, former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) head R.K. Raghavan and former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court J.N. Patel as members.

Earlier in the day, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi opposed the entire panel suggested by the BCCI, and contended that each one of them is placed in a situation of conflict of interest.

Singhvi told the court that while Justice Patel was related to officiating BCCI president Shivlal Yadav, Ravi Shastri had sided with Srinivasan in a contest with Dilip Sardasai. He said that Raghvan was the secretary of a cricket club which in turn was affiliated to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.

The apex court then asked senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam to check with Justice Mudgal if he was inclined to undertake the probe. The court said if Justice Mudgal Committee agrees, it would be provided the assistance of able investigators.