FIR registered against BCCI president in Jaipur

An FIR was registered Friday in Jaipur's Jyotinagar police station to investigate the match fixing allegations by BCCI president N. Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan for conspiring and executing the fixing of an IPL match played May 12 between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the city's Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

Mehmood Abdi, president, Sri Ganganagar District Cricket Association (Rajasthan) filed a complaint in the court of appropriate jurisdiction in Jaipur Oct 26 and the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate-8 Oct 28 issued directions to the Jaipur Police to investigate the allegations.

In compliance with the said court directions, the Jyotinagar police station Friday registered an FIR in the matter.

In his complaint, Abdi inter alia alleged Srinivasan and Meiyappan used their substantial influence to ensure CSK underperform so the accused gains financial benefits through illegal match-related betting activities.

It is alleged several individuals' integrity was compromised due to them being under the employment of India Cements, which provided the accused with the necessary wherewithal to influence on-field proceedings in that particular match.

It is also alleged pre-match rumours suggested CSK would deliberately underperform and score around 130 to 140 runs to ensure an RR victory. CSK scored 141 and the Royals easily chased down the target in 17 overs.

The pre-match betting rumour combined with the end result and the high level of influence that Srinivasan and Meiyappan exerted within the CSK ranks are stated as the primary reference points in Abdi's complaint.

It is important to note CSK, boasting of some powerful hitters, did not slam a single six during their innings while RR hit 9 over boundaries. The average score of CSK in IPL-6 was 188 runs, whereas it could aggregate only 140 runs in the Jaipur match, which incidentally was the team's second lowest score of the season at the stadium.