Players named by Modi have clean chit: Thakur

The BCCI on Monday gave a clean chit to three international cricketers, who were accused of accepting bribes from a Mumbai-based businessman by ousted IPl commissioner lalit Modi.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said “there is nothing in it” when asked about the ICC acknowledging a letter from Modi in June 2013, claiming that two cricketers from India and a West Indian were paid in cash and kind to the tune of `20 crore each.

“lalit Modi had written a letter to ICC, so they informed BCCI about the letter. The three players are international players and fall under the international jurisdiction. There is no information on these players from ICC so far, so it is in a way a clean chit for them to play,” said Thakur here on Monday.

“The ICC has sent a press release, they had informed BCCI about the three players. When somebody plays international cricket, the ICC is responsible. Only the ICC can answer as per their investigations.

 It falls under ICC’s purview. They have said that they are enquiring, so only they can answer on this. If there was anything, they could have reported back to us,” he said further on the controversial issue.

‘No evidence against 3 cricketers’

Dubai: The ICC had found no evidence against the three international cricketers who have been accused of accepting bribes by former IPl Commissioner lalit Modi.

The game’s governing body had on Sunday hinted that it had found no evidence against the three cricketers, when in a statement it said, “...The ACSU handled that information in accordance with its standard operating procedures, which included sharing it with the BCCI’s anti-corruption unit.”

Reliable sources said had there been any wrongdoing, the world body ‘s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit  would have opened an inquiry.

“If the ACSU had found any evidence against the three players, then it would have charged them for breaching the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code. If this has not happened in two years and the players are still playing international and domestic cricket, this clearly means that there is no evidence that warrants a charge,” the sources said.

“The matter can be reopened as and when new supporting evidence is provided but, but as of now, there is no charge against the cricketers. It is now up to the three cricketers to file damages against lalit Modi, who has questioned their integrity by shooting an email to the ICC, demanding investigation.” 

Sources said the cricketers need to decide their next course of action after damage was caused to their reputations due to Modi’s allegations.

“This is an extremely serious allegation and the cricketers need to act to get their names cleared once and for ever,” sources said.