Indian board chief dismisses calls for his resignation

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The head of India’s cricket board has refused to resign a day after his son-in-law and owner of a Twenty20 cricket team was arrested as part of widening probe into allegations of spot-fixing in Indian Premier League tournament.

N Srinivasan, the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said on Saturday that he had no intention of resigning despite mounting public pressure.

“I can’t be bulldozed or railroaded into resigning. Some sources are trying (to put) pressure now. There is no question of it [resigning],” Srinivasan was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper on its website.

G Meiyappan, part of the management team of Chennai Super Kings, was arrested by police in Mumbai late on Friday for betting on matches in connivance with bookies and a Bollywood actor who is already under arrest.

“We interrogated him and based on the information we have, we found his involvement in the offence. We have placed him under arrest,” Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police, said.

Meiyappan will be produced in court on Saturday, Roy said.

Reports in local newspapers said Meiyappan had placed bets on hugely popular IPL matches through actor Vindu Dara Singh Randhawa, who was taken into custody earlier this week.

A statement from India Cements, owners of the Chennai franchise, sought to play down Meiyappan’s role within the team.

“Gurunath is only one of the members [honorary] of the management team of Chennai Super Kings. India Cements follows zero-tolerance policy and if anyone is proved guilty, strict action will be taken immediately,” the statement said.

Meiyappan had in the past been referred to as the chief executive of the team and actively participated in players’ auctions as well.

His arrest comes on the heels of similar police action against Test pace bowler S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates as part of a probe into the spot-fixing scandal which has caused outrage among fans in the cricket-mad nation.

The trio, who deny any wrongdoing, are accused of deliberately bowling badly in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars after striking deals with bookies.

The country’s highest court earlier this week asked the BCCI to submit a report within two weeks with details of the players’ involvement in the betting scandal.

The case has prompted the Indian government to look at the possibility of introducing a law to combat matchfixing and spot-fixing.

The Chennai Super Kings, led by India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have made it to the final of this year’s tournament.

The International Cricket Council withdrew elite panel umpire Asad Rauf of Pakistan, who officiates in IPL, from next month’s Champions Trophy on Thursday following media reports he was under investigation by the Mumbai Police.