State associations fuel Srinivasan's resignation row (Roundup)

The clamour for the removal of BCCI chief N. Srinivasan, under tremendous pressure to step down ever since the arrest of his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings chief Gurunath Meiyappan in connection with the IPL spot fixing scandal, intensified Friday after more cricket associations joined in the quit-chorus.

Thirty associations are affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and two-thirds of them need to vote in favour of a resolution to impeach the board president for it to succeed.

While BCCI officials, including its treasurer Ajay Shirke and union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, have already said that Srinivasan should resign pending completion of the inquiry against his son-in-law, Thursday saw the officials of Goa and Assam cricket associations talking on the same line.

"Srinivasan should step down and allow the probe to continue. He has to resign as he has no other option," said Goa Cricket Association vice-president Shekhar Salkar.

Assam association president Gautam Roy concurred with Salkar. "He should step aside till the investigation is on. That is my personal opinion," said Roy.

But Srinivasan, as he has been claiming all along, also has supporters in BCCI.

"We can't say if someone is guilty until the probe is on. There is no reason for him to resign," said Tripura Cricket Association general secretary Arindam Ganguly.

As Meiyappan remains in Mumbai Police custody till Friday, the BCCI has set up a three-member probe panel to examine his alleged role in the spot-fixing scam unearthed with the arrest of Rajasthan Royals' cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.

Chavan, arrested by Delhi Police alongside the other two May 16, was Thursday granted interim bail by a Delhi court to get married on June 2.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Khanna granted Chavan interim bail till June 6 on a personal bond of Rs.1 lakh and a surety of equal amount.

Chavan was Tuesday denied relief by a magisterial court which said that social stigma could not be a ground to give him the concession.

A Delhi court also granted bail to Abhishek Shukla, a friend of Sreesanth.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma granted bail to Shukla after dismissing the judicial custody plea of police.

Police said Shukla had allegedly removed money and articles of Sreesanth from his hotel room in Mumbai after his arrest May 16.

Police had sought judicial custody of Shukla, saying interrogation and recoveries have been completed, and Shukla was no more required for interrogation.

The court said that prima facie, Shukla had committed an offence under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is bailable.

Meanwhile, the union home ministry said it had not received any request from BCCI for a probe into the IPL scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation.