BCCI chief N Srinivasan may have been playing the victim by accusing the media of “hounding” him, but his defence that his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was neither Chennai Super Kings' team principal nor did he have any role to play in its functioning and that he was more of a cricket "enthusiast" than anything else has fallen flat. The lies mouthed by him and his company, India Cements, in the form of a clarification vis-à-vis Meiyappan have been nailed fairly and squarely.
If the removal of a reference to CSK from the Twitter handle bio of Meiyappan, where he had earlier been described as the disgraced cricket franchise's team principal, was a foreplay witnessed ahead of the arrest of Srinivasan's now-infamous son-in-law, the events that unfolded since his Press conference are proving to be a major embarrassment for the BCCI chief.
Nailed first was India Cements' "clarification" that Meiyappan "is neither the owner nor CEO / Team Principal of Chennai Super Kings". Within minutes of the media reporting on the original Twitter handle of Meiyappan, it was updated post haste to remove the reference to his involvement with CSK.
Then came the brazen defence by Srinivasan who stated in Kolkata on Sunday that Meiyappan had “no role” to play in CSK. He had never even visited the franchise’s office and that his son-in-law was a mere cricket “enthusiastic” who traveled with the team. Before long, enough evidence surfaced to call Srinivasan's bluff.
Exposé list:
n During the raid in Meiyappan’s Chennai residence, the Mumbai Police recovered visiting cards describing him as the CSK Team principal.
n An e-mail sent by IPl chairman Rajiv Shukla on December 24, 2011 to all team owners, of which Meiyappan is one of the recipients. Shukla begins the mail, addressing the recipients as “Dear owners” and goes on to invite them for a round-table meeting scheduled between 3pm-5pm on 9th January 2012, being held in the run-up to the IPl- Season-5 of 2012. Suffice to say that even the IPl management regarded Meiyappan as the CSK owner.
n As part of another cover-up, the Chennai Super Kings’ official website has now removed all references to Meiyappan being described the “owner” or “Team Principal”. In the pages that had been uploaded earlier — in the form of Press releases reproduced on the website — where Meiyappan had been termed as the CSK’s “Owner” or “Team Principal”.
For instance, in one of the news reports that had been uploaded earlier on August 6, 2011, "Mr Gurunath Meiyappan, Owner of Chennai Superkings" had been quoted as saying: "We have been one of the consistent sides in the IPl so far, Our focus on the basics has paid us dividends and our brand of cricket has won us global admirers"
That apart, how does Srinivasan's account for Meiyappan's presence at the IPl auctions, bids that he made in the glare of television camera and sound bytes that he gave to electronic media about his role as the CSK owner or Team PrincipalIJ Or how can or does Srinivasan ignore the fact that his son-in-law was conspicuous by his presence at the IPl dug-outs of the venues when the matches featuring CSK were being playedIJ Did Meiyappan's mere enthusiasm entitle him to remain present at the IPl auctions or facilitated his entry to IPl match dug-outs featuring CSK matchesIJ
Srinivasan may have tried hard to wriggle himself out of a bind by blaming it on media, but the fact remains that he cannot run away from the hard reality that his son-in-law, Meiyappan - whom he calls Gurunath - was at the helm of affairs of the CSK, when the going was good.