Apex court finds Meiyappan, Kundra guilty of betting in IPL

The Supreme Court on Thursday held Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of N Srinivasan and team official of Chennai Super Kings and Raj Kundra, co-owner of IPL team Rajasthan Royals, guilty of betting during IPL 2013.

The apex court’s verdict concurs with the findings of the Justice Mudgal panel appointed by it. A bench of Justices T S Thakur and F M I Kalifullah also found the two teams liable for punishment while giving the mandate to an independent panel of former judges to decide the punishment.

“We held that the misconduct of these two individuals is actionable as per the relevant rules. Not only that, we have held that action under the rules can also be taken against the franchisees concerned,” the bench said, adding that the quantum of sanction/punishment against them can vary depending upon the gravity of the misconduct of the persons.

The court also said it would also seek a probe into the charges against Sundar Raman, IPL COO, even if it meant further investigation by the investigating team provided to the probe committee or by any other means. Raman was found to be in touch with Vindoo Dara Singh, who was arrested by the Mumbai police for his role in betting, by the Mudgal panel in its report submitted on November 1 last.“He (Raman) was the spirit behind the entire exercise and cannot be said to be unconcerned with what goes on in the course of the tournament especially if it has the potential of bringing disrepute to the game/BCCI,” the bench said.Raman was entrusted with the task of overseeing the tournament and all other live events, including the opening ceremony and also the general operations, sponsorships activities, television production, estimation of costs, negotiation of contracts, administration duties, travel and transport and other related functions.