What the Lodha Committee had to say

Excerpts from Lodha committee's pronouncement:

ON RAJ KUNDRA

Raj Kundra is declared ineligible for participation in cricket for five years under the Anti-Corrupton Code. He is also suspended for life from activities under of the Code of Conduct, and suspended for life from being involved with the BCCI in any type of cricket under the Operational Rule.

He was found guilty of misconduct for the first time but it had affected the image of the BCCI, IPL and game of cricket and brought disrepute to each one of them.

Kundra had part ownership and accreditation as team official of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and this was not disputed by Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd (JIPL). Kundra was 'Team Official', 'Player Support Personnel' and 'Participant' within the meaning of relevant rules and he had indulged in betting.

The allegations of betting and matchfixing against Kundra and his wife, actor Shilpa Shetty required further investigation.Kundra has been placing bets through a known punter and he also introduced that punter to another bookie.

The gravity of offence is further compounded by his being constantly in touch with bookies and not reporting his contacts with them. Moreover, he was involved so much in betting that he introduced a known punter to another bookie.

The investigation against him was abruptly and without reason stopped by the Rajasthan Police upon receiving the case papers from Delhi Police. No reason is discernible why the investigation into a crime as serious as this was not taken to its logical conclusion.

ON INDIA CEMENTS LTD (ICL) AND JAIPUR IPL CRICKET PRIVATE LIMITED (JICPL)

Once Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra are accepted as team officials, their misconduct which has adversely affected the image of the BCCI and the league as also the game and brought each one of them to disrepute can result in imposition of one or more sanctions. It is noteworthy that those sanctions are not limited to Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra along but may extend to suspension of the team or the franchisee from the league also.

Taking into consideration all relevant facts and circumstances, the Committee suspended both Franchisees and Teams from the League for a period of two years.

In case of ICL, the observations leave no manner of doubt (of) the misconduct of betting committed by Meiyappan apart from the action being taken against him, and will result the action being taken against the franchisee. The acts of betting by Meiyappan, which is further accentuated by the position he held in CSK, with the implicit approval of the franchisee owner India Cements. The Committee is of the opinion that the CSK franchisee owner is responsible for failing to ensure Meiyappan (Team Official) has complied with the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code, IPL Operational Rules, IPL Regulations and hence the franchisees actions are in violation of IPL Operational Rules and the franchise agreement.

Not only that no urgent action was taken by the ICL against Meiyappan but no action is shown to have been taken by the ICL against him. The order of suspension passed by the BCCI against Meiyappan after his arrest is not an action by the ICL against its Team Official.

Meiyappan was in the position of owner. He is the son-in-law of N. Srinivasan, managing director of ICL, which is the franchisee of the team CSK and Meiyappan was considered to be the face of the owner, due to his actions. Therefore, offences of such persons who are the face (representative) of the owner would have to be considered as acts of the owner and the actions of such person which bring the game into disrepute.

There are materials which justify an appropriate investigation to ascertain the culpability of Raj Kundra and his wife Ms. Shilpa Shetty in placing bets as owner of the franchisee in IPL.

Any such culpability on the part of Kundras would fasten liability on the franchisee and it would be incumbent to ascertain such liability of the franchisee for purposes of appropriate sanctions under the Operational Rules andor the Franchise Agreement.

ON GURUNATH MEIYAPPAN

Gurunath Meiyappan is declared ineligible for participation in cricket for five years under the Anti-Corruption Code. He is suspended for life from activities under the Code of Conduct as well as being suspended for life from being involved in any type of cricket with BCCI under the Operational Rules.

There are many factors which aggravated the nature of Meiyappan's offence. He formed an integral part of CSK and most persons viewed him as a face of the team, and had knowledge o or was in a position to easily access sensitive information, team strategies, knowledge about match conditions etc which was outside the purview of an ordinary person following cricket.

He was in regular touch with bookies and punters and several calls were traced between him and a certain Vindoo Dara Singh (a punter in close proximity with several other bookies).

Meiyappan would regularly place bets in IPL matches both in favour of his team CSK and against his team and such bets were even placed during the course of IPL match.He has been held to be 'Team Official' within the meaning of expression under the rules and for the f purposes of disciplinary action, this position is not disputed.

The sums of money involved in betting by him are quite substantial and the panel also noted a lack of remorse on his part.By regularly placing bets in matches - even during the course of IPL match - he acted in gross violation of the Anti-Corruption Code.

His habit of regularly placing bets in IPL matches renders the argument of his being first offender and unblemished antecedents in previous IPL tournaments of no worth. That he suffered a loss of Rs. 60 lakh in bets shows that he engaged in heavy betting. It is his bad luck that he did not make money out of this. Any agony suffered by him because of media coverage or any hardship that may have been caused to him is too small in comparison to the huge injury he caused to the reputation and image of the game.

Charitable work, if any, by the family business is hardly a mitigating factor. It is difficult to accept that he has passion for the game. Any person who has true passion for the game would not be involved in betting.