The Indian Premier league spot-fixing scandal got murkier on Thursday as Mumbai Police asked Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings’ boss to get in touch with them by Friday and Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was removed from next month’s ICC Champions Trophy.
A Mumbai Police team, led by Investigating Officer Nandkumar Gopale served the orders at the Chennai residence of Meiyappan, who is also the son-in-law of BCCI chief N Srinivasan.
Things got messier by the evening as the International Cricket Council (ICC) removed Rauf, who has been officiating in IPl matches, from next month’s Champions Trophy in England and Wales after his name cropped up in the IPl spot-fixing scandal.
Rauf’s removal from the Champions Trophy came as a surprise as his name hasn’t been linked directly with the scandal.However, Rauf is likely to be questioned by the Mumbai Police shortly.
Things will get worse in the coming days as the involvement of more cricketers and Bollywood celebrities, including four actors, in the scandal is also being investigated, with police sources maintaining that a few of them could be questioned next week.
The day also saw as many as 20 people, including bookies and people involved in betting, being arrested by the police in Kolkata, Thane, Nellore and Jaipur.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said that Rauf - the first umpire to come under the scanner in the scandal - has been withdrawn as he was under investigation by the Mumbai Police.
Rauf performed on-field umpiring duty in 13 IPl matches, the last one being in the game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad on May 19. In the 15-day Champions Trophy starting June 6, Rauf was to officiate in three matches including a warm-up game.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf said the Board will soon introduce new rules to bring Pakistani umpires under its “domain” in the wake of ICC’s decision to withdraw Rauf. Pakistani umpires and match referees are not in PCB’s domain as of now.
Rauf had hit headlines recently after a Mumbai-based small-time model had accused him of sexually exploiting her on the pretext of marrying her. She had produced photographs wherein the two were seen together, as evidence of her relationship with Rauf, who had to admit that the pictures were real. He, however, claimed he had no relationship with her.
Throughout the day, however, it was Meiyappan who continued to hog headlines. A Mumbai Crime Branch team drew a blank when it flew down to Chennai to question Meiyappan - whose name has cropped repeatedly during the interrogation of late Dara Singh’s actor-son Vindoo Singh. Srinivasan’s son-in-law was nowhere to be found. The sleuths were also made to wait for nearly 20 minutes before being let in by the security guards of the CSK CEO.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said: “We have issued summons to Meiyappan. One was stuck on the main door of his house in (Cenotaph Road in Alwarpet area) Chennai (as neither he nor any family member was present), while another was accepted by a manager at the Chennai Super Kings office at Koromandal Towers. Meiyappan has been asked to appear before the investigators for questioning between 11 am and 5 pm on Friday.”
Informed sources, however, said that Meiyappan had requested the Mumbai Police for more time and had asked permission to appear before them for questioning on Monday, a day after the IPl-6 final featuring Chennai Super Kings, that will be played at Eden Garden in Kolkata on May 26.
The BCCI threw its weight behind Srinivasan, saying that it was unfair to implicate his son-in-law in any wrong doing until the investigations were over.IPl chairman Rajeev Shukla said people should not “jump to conclusions” that Meiyappan was involved in the scandal till the police complete their investigations.
On his part, Roy said that prolonged interrogation of Vindoo and scanning of the Call Detail Record (CDR) had revealed “call-transactions” between the arrested actor and Meiyappan as well as some bookies.
“We expect Meiyappan to cooperate with us in the investigation. If he fails to show up before us in the allotted time-frame, there are procedures in law to gain his availability. But this won’t reflect well on his stature,” Roy said.
Roy said that a special team of eight officers had been set up to conduct elaborate investigations into the leads provided by nine arrested people, including Vindoo, hawala operator with international links Alpesh Kumar Bhagwandas Patel and half a dozen bookies.