Mudgal panel to seek extension, wait for key India players
NEW DELHI: The Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee, investigating the IPL fixing probe, will call a few key India players to depose before it next month. The committee has to submit its report by end of this month but will request the Supreme Court for an extension.
A committee member said the probe was going on at a good pace but the deadline for submitting the report was a challenge.
“The probe needs to be extensive, and I don’t think we can wind up our investigation by August. We are going to request the Supreme Court for an extension.” he said.
Soon after his appointment as chief investigator, Bibhuti Bhusana Mishra, Deputy Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, had told HT that the August 31 deadline would be a challenge for the committee.
“We will call some players to depose before the committee when they return from England in mid-september. This is a very important part of the investigation,” said a member of the committee. “We have been calling people as they too can be a useful source of information ” had asked Mishra to head the investigation. Three police officers of assistant commissioner rank from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai are assisting Mishra in the investigation.
The Apex Court has given the Mudgal Committee all powers except the right to arrest while investigating the contents of the sealed envelope that contains the names of 13 players and officials suspected to be involved in the scandal. The list includes the name of suspended BCCI president N Srinivasan.
“This is a police investigation and we have met and called many persons, including cricket officials, administrators, journalists, IPL team managements, and we will do our best to go to the root of it,” said a source.
On Saturday, the committee members questioned Srinivasan and his son in law Gurunath