The IPL crisis took a twist today with officials of the Mumbai Police reaching the house of Gurunath Meiyappan, chief executive of the Chennai Super Kings. Meiyappan is the son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Super Kings franchise.
It was not immediately clear why they were there, and there has been no official statement by either the police or the franchise.
However, CNN-IBN quoted Mumbai’s joint commissioner of police Himanshu Roy as saying that Meiyappan had been summoned for questioning in connection with betting and asked to appear before the Crime Branch in Mumbai between 11 am and 5 pm on Friday. The summons had been affixed to the door of Meiyappan’s Chennai residence and been served to, and accepted by, a manager at the Super Kings office.
The news follows reports circulating in the Indian media since Tuesday on the proximity of Virender “Vindoo” Dara Singh, who was arrested that day in Mumbai for links with bookies, to the Super Kings franchise. Those reports, which included pictures of Vindoo watching IPL matches in the company of Super Kings captain MS Dhoni’s wife, have not been denied in the 48 hours since.
The sole official response came from IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla. “The Mumbai and Delhi Police are competent authorities and let them finish the investigations before jumping to any conclusions,” he said when asked whether Srinivasan should step down from the post of BCCI president accepting moral responsibility for the scandal. “How can you term anyone guilty before the investigations are completed? Let the police report be submitted and then we will be in a better position to talk further.”
The police crackdown on bookies continued in other parts of the country. In Kolkata, ten people, including one bookie, were arrested for being allegedly involved in cricket betting. “We have arrested 10 people, including a bookie last night. We are investigating the case. They will be produced before a court today [Friday],” deputy commissioner Santosh Pandey told PTI.
Initial investigations said they had bet on a match between Mumbai Indians and Super Kings.
