NEW DELHI: Coming down heavily on BCCI president N Srinivasan, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked him to step down for a free and fair probe in the betting and spot fixing scandal involving his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan and some cricketers, failing which it would pass an order.
After going through the contents of a report filed in a sealed cover by apex court-appointed probe panel into the scandal, a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said there are “very very serious” allegations made in the report and unless the BCCI president steps down, no fair probe can be conducted.
“In our opinion, Srinivasan has to step down if proper probe is to be done in the case,” the bench said. “We don’t like to damage people’s reputation but unless the BCCI president steps down, no fair investigation can be down.
“Why is he sticking to the chair? It is nauseating,” the bench said. “If you would not step down, we will pass the verdict,” an enraged bench said.
It said that the contents of the report, which also raised suspicion on the role of six India-capped players in IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal, cannot be revealed in open court and asked BCCI counsel to go through certain paragraphs of it.
“See and go through the report to get to know the seriousness of the allegations but not as an advocate of Srinivasan or BCCI,” the bench said.
It said that the gist of the report is such that the allegations have to be probed and asked the BCCI counsel to take instructions. It posted the case for hearing on March 27.
During the hearing, BCCI pleaded before the court not to disclose the contents and names of players mentioned in the report.