'Srinivasan will face legal consequences if he chairs Chennai meet'

Bihar cricket official Aditya Verma who had taken on the might of the BCCI filing a PIL against it, Sunday warned of legal consequences if president N. Srinivasan chaired the cricket board's next annual general meeting (AGM) in Chennai slated for Sep 29.

"He has stated in an affidavit before the court that he will not chair any BCCI meeting until the court gives a verdict. He is not above law, and if he has the courage to defy the law, he will have to face the consequences," Verma told IANS.

Verma though refused to read much into Srinivasan's claim.

"This is typical of him. Even in the Delhi meet or in today's (Sunday) meet he had said he will chair it, but he didn't," added Verma who earlier claimed he had been offered a bribe for an out-of-court settlement with the BCCI.

Srinivasan, who in June stepped aside as the Board chief following his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan's arrest in connection with spot fixing and betting charges during the sixth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), announced after an emergency meeting of the Board here Sunday that he will chair the Chennai meeting.

The Bombay High Court, has termed illegal the two-member probe panel that gave a clean chit to Meiyappan, the Chennai Super Kings principal, and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra, in betting and spot-fixing in IPL-6.

The panel comprising retired high court judges T. Jayaram Chouta and R. Balasubramanian, had "found no evidence of wrongdoing by either Gurunath Meiyappan, team principal of Chennai Super Kings, or Raj Kundra, Rajasthan Royals co-owner".

With the panel's finding paving the way for Srinivasan's return as BCCI chief, Verma, secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), had filed a petition challenging its legality.

With the BCCI challenging the high court verdict, the matter is slated to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court Sep 11.