JOIN USGurunath Meiyappan, former owner of Chennai Super Kings, was on Saturday chargesheeted along with actor Vindoo Dara Singh and 20 others by the Mumbai Police in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting case for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
The charge sheet comes four months after the scandal rocked the cricketing world.
Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf and 15 alleged bookies from that country have been named as wanted accused in the 11,500-page charge sheet filed by the crime branch in the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate Uday Padwad.
Meiyappan, son-in-law of N Srinivasan, who was forced to step aside as Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president after the spot-fixing and betting scandal broke out in May this year, has been charged under section 66A of the Information Technology Act, Sections 4 and 5 of the Gambling Act.
He has also been charged under Sections 465 (forgery), 466 (forgery of record of court or of public register), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 490 (breach of contract), 420 (cheating), 212 (harbouring the offender), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to sources, Meiyappan and Vindoo, son of actor Dara Singh, and others have been charged with betting and not spot-fixing.
It was through Vindoo that Meiyappan was alleged to have placed bets on IPL matches. Meiyappan was alleged to have given critical information, including those related to the team strategy and composition to Vindoo, who passed those on to the bookies.
The Crime Branch has annexed call data records of conversations between Vindoo and Meiyappan in the charge sheet.
Meiyappan and Vindoo were granted bail on June 3.
Gifts to Rauf
According to the Crime Branch, key bookie brothers Sanjay and Pawan Jaipur, had sent gifts to Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf, who officiated in IPL season 6. The anticipatory bail pleas of Sanjay and Pawan were recently rejected by the Bombay High Court, which has granted them time to approach the Supreme Court.
“Rauf was supposed to collect shoes and dress materials from Delhi, but he didn’t take them after being apparently tipped off. The gifts were sent by Jaipur brothers during the IPL,” according to the Crime Branch, which claimed that Rauf, who left India in a hurry after his name cropped up in the betting racket, was hand-in-glove with the bookies.
Meanwhile, unfazed by public outcry, Srinivasan on Saturday asserted that he would contest in the presidential election at the ensuing annual general meeting of the BCCI.
“I have not suffered any disqualification. I plan to contest and people have extended support to my candidature", he told reporters in Chennai.
Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings, was forced to step aside as BCCI president on moral grounds after Meiyappan was arrested for allegedly indulging in betting during the IPL this year.
“If Gurunath Meiyappan is guilty, let the law take its stand. I don't understand the media want me to step down or step aside,” he told reporters.
"You see I already stated that probe commission report is sub judice, I don’t think it is proper frame to comment. It is up to him to defend his position, it has got nothing to do with me," he added.
“I will chair the meeting as president and in spite of what you (the media) feel, I may get elected,” he said.
Rajasthan Royals cricketers S Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan were recently slapped with life bans by the BCCI. It also handed out a five-year ban to Royals' Amit Singh, while another Rajasthan cricketer Siddharth Trivedi got a one-year suspension.