Justice Mudgal accepts SC offer; will probe IPL, Srinivasan

2.15 pm: Mudgal Committee accepts Supreme Court’s request

According to news reports, Justice Mukul Mudgal has agreed to head the investigation into IPL corruption. However, Justice Mudgal told CNN-IBN it is now up to the Supreme Court to decide who will be on the panel this time around.

11.20 am: Supreme Court asks Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee if they want to continue investigating the IPL

Aditya Verma, the petitioner in the case, objected to the BCCI-nominated panel and asked for a CBI investigation. However, according to Headlines Today, the Supreme Court sited a lack of confidence in the CBI and the police to carry out the investigation and has asked the Mukul Mudgal Committee if it wants to carry on the investigation. The Committee will be vested with investigatory powers should it agree to do so. The court has given it until 2 pm to respond.

This effectively means the court has rejected the BCCI’s panel, which included former India captain Ravi Shastri, former Calcutta High Court Judge JN Patel and former CBI director RK Raghavan.

10.30 am: BCCI panel full of conflicts of interest

In the last hearing on 16 April, the Supreme Court had directed the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) suggest names of persons who will conduct a “fair probe” into the scam.

The Board reacted by calling for an Emergent Working Committee meet on Sunday and decided to propose a fresh three-member panel comprising RK Raghavan, former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Justice (retd.) JN Patel, former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court, and Ravi Shastri, former India skipper and commentator.

However, it has emerged that all three have some ‘conflict of interest’ with the BCCI and the idea of a fair probe.

According to an ESPNCricinfo report : “It has since emerged that Raghavan is secretary of a club in the TNCA, whose president is N Srinivasan; Patel, meanwhile, is connected to the BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav through marriage. Shastri’s case is the clearest: He is a BCCI employee, contracted as a commentator.”

According to reports, Raghavan is the secretary of the Kamyuth Club, one of the 148 clubs affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. N Srinivasan has been the president of the TNCA for 12 years running now.

Patel is the brother-in-law of interim BCCI chief Shivlal Yadav. According to the Mumbai Mirror, his name was suggested by former BCCI chief Shashank Manohar.

With Shastri, the conflicts of interest are as clear as day. And they have been illustrated well, by Tariq Engineer, in this piece HERE .

It is also perhaps interesting to note that the BCCI has not sent out a press release naming the proposed three-member panel. So perhaps, they were hoping that no one would find out about the conflicts of interest. But now the ‘sceret’ is out, it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court reacts.

The apex court is expected to consider the suggestion made by the BCCI when the hearing resumes today and pass orders on how a probe will be conducted. The case will be heard in the first docket.