VERMA SLAMS SRINI OVER COVER- UP

The Mudgal probe committee might have given a clean chit to N. Srinivasan saying he didn’t scuttle the investigation and had no role in betting/ fixing, but the allegation that he had tried to cover up the act of his son- in- law Gurunath Meiyappan remains.

During one of the Supreme Court hearings, senior lawyer Harish Salve, who represented petitioner CAB, had argued that covering up is also amounts to corruption. Mudgal reports says Srinivasan and four other BCCI officials wee aware of the violation of the Players Code of Conduct by Individual 3 ( thought to be a CSK player), but no action was taken against him by any of the aforesaid officials who were aware of this infraction. Individual 3 refers to a player whose name is contained in the Mudgal committee report on the role of players in the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, but whose name has been omitted in the report on the officials.

On Monday, Aditya Verma, the secretary of CAB, reiterated Salve’s views. “My stand is that cover- up of corruption is also corruption. Srini wasn’t involved in fixing. But he was aware about it. He was chief of BCCI and owner of India cements. He was aware about the wrong- doing. What action did he take about this? Which means it was done in his consultation,” Verma said. “Now, only a 30- page report has come out. In future and lot more details will come out,” he added.