Nothing against accused trio — BCCI

Indian board puts onus of investigating charges squarely on the ICC

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given the all-clear to Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, named in Lalit Modi’s letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC) alleging that the two Indian cricketers had taken bribes from a bookie who was also a renowned builder.

Modi, the ousted Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman and commissioner, had through the letter named Raina, Jadeja and West Indies cricketer Dwayne Bravo, all of whom played in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings, as having been given apartments and money by the builder.

The ICC has confirmed that it received a letter from Modi in June 2013 accusing the three international players of being involved in betting and had passed it to its Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) to deal with it in accordance with its procedures.

Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, made it clear at a press conference in New Delhi that the players had a clean chit from the BCCI until the ICC inquiry revealed the truth regarding the allegations made by Modi.

The stance of the BCCI is that the ICC has jurisdiction to investigate charges against the players and the BCCI will not conduct any independent inquiry into the matter.

Modi, who was part of the ruling group in the BCCI before being forced to leave the country on charges of financial irregularities, has been firing salvos at N. Srinivasan, the former president of the BCCI, and all those who turned against him and ousted him as the chief of IPL. Srinivasan was the owner Chennai Super Kings, the franchise for which the three players featured in the IPL.

Repeated mentions

Raina’s name had been figuring frequently in controversies relating to matchfixing. In 2010, a London newspaper reported that Sri Lanka Cricket had reported Raina as being seen in the company of a woman linked to an associate of a bookie.

Again, soon after the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee on the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal had submitted its findings, including a list of 13 players and officials to the Supreme Court last year, there were reports that Raina’s name was on the list.