'Confident of beating BCCI in Supreme Court'

Bihar cricket official Aditya Verma, who claimed he was offered a bribe for an out-of-court settlement with the BCCI, said Friday he will take his fight against the powerful board to the Supreme Court.

Verma, secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), was reacting to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decision to challenge a Bombay High Court ruling in the Supreme Court. CAB is one of the three bodies vying for BCCI recognition.

"It is a big victory for us. I am confident that justice will be done in the Supreme Court. I was already prepared for this battle and will be filing a caveat in the apex court," Verma told IANS.

The Bombay High Court termed illegal the two-member probe panel that gave a clean to board president Narayanaswami Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, the Chennai Super Kings principal, and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, in betting and

spot-fixing in IPL-6. The court order came Monday after Verma filed a PIL.

Verma said he expected BCCI to take the matter to Supreme Court, which the board said Friday it would.

"The BCCI thinks it is above the law. Fortunately for it, someone must have told the board during today's meeting that if they let Srinivasan come back now, it would put them in further trouble," he said referring to BCCI vice president Arun Jaitley, who read out the High Court judgement at the IPL Governing Council meeting here.

"He (Srinivasan) should have resigned on moral grounds after his son-in-law was arrested. And how could the probe panel give a clean chit to all when the Mumbai police has not even filed a charge sheet in the case," Verma asked.