Raj Kundra, who has been indicted by the Lodha panel on charges of betting in IPL, in an exclusive interview to India Today said he had never bet in any cricket match. He added that the IPL scam was a conspiracy and that he was pulled into the trap.
He advocated for making the entire Mudgal report public. “I have the right to see the evidence. I want the report to be made public so that the people can see it and decide for themselves,” he said.
“I met Mudgal committee whenever I was called. My friend was put under pressure, he was given a third degree torture.
“I have not received till date a copy of their final report in which sweeping conclusions were recorded against me. Even the fact that neither the Delhi police nor Rajasthan police found any actionable case against me (for the obvious reasons that there was no evidence or material against me) has been used to make insinuations regarding my guilt for an act I never did,” he added.
He claimed innocence by saying, “Lodha panel has been set up only to give the quantum of punishment but not to say whether I am not guilty or not.”
He said he didn’t want to be projected as the bad boy of cricket.
The former Rajasthan Royals co-owner voiced his opinion to legalise betting in the country. “When there is so much black money involved in betting, it would be ideal to legalise it in India. Let the money come to the government,” Kundra said.
He denied his wife Shilpa Shetty’s involvement in the issue and said she was only an ardent fan of the IPL club.
Kundra said that the 2-year suspension imposed on the two IPL teams was harsh. “You are just tearing the country’s most famous league by banning the teams. If one or two teams suffer, the entire leagues get affected. Don’t bring down the whole team in the name of clean-up,” Kundra said.
He said he had not spoken to Rahul Dravid after the verdict but had spoken to few from the management.
When asked about RR being vulnerable to bookies and agents, Kundra said: “We are we being crucified. The player who was approached had complained to the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI). I don’t get involved in day-to-day affairs. IPL runs just for two months, we don’t have control over our players for the next 10 months in the year.”
Article originally appeared on India Today