The Supreme Court on Wednesday favoured a probe into betting and spot-fixing charges – made in the Mudgal panel report – by the BCCI but sans ousted president N Srinivasan. The court said handing over inquiry to the CBI or police could compromise the institutional autonomy of the cricket board.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and F M I Kalifullah noted that the court appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal panel had recorded “unverified” allegations against 13 persons, including Srinivasan, which, if published in the media, could sully the image of those persons.

“We are concerned with cricket in the country and reputation of cricketers. If it (charges) goes (comes out) in the media, what would happen to future reputation of cricketers,” the bench asked.

The court expressed its apprehension after a plea was made by BCCI counsel C A Sundaram seeking transcript of audio statements made by Srinivasan and test captain M S Dhoni before the panel.

The cricket board wanted the copy of statements in order to counter the charge of the Bihar Cricket Association that both Srinivasan and Dhoni claimed that Gurunath Meiyappan was merely a cricket enthusiast and was not involved in the team management of Chennai Super Kings. The BCCI claimed both never made any such statement.