Chennai: In the emergency meeting convened on Sunday, the Indian Cricket Board though promised to tackle the problem by taking strongest possible action against the players if they are found guilty of spot-fixing, BCCI chief N Srinivasan said the board would follow the rulebook before handing down punishment to the tainted trio, including S Sreeasanth, Ajit Chandila and Ajeet Chavan.
Speaking at the press conference, N Srinivavasn informed that Ravi Sawani, BCCI anti-corruption chief , has been appointed as the commissioner of inquiry and has been asked to file his report as soon as possible. "We also invited the Rajasthan Royals owners and management to attend the meeting and brief the Working Committee on this incident. We were informed that they intend to file a police complaint against the three players," Srinivasan said.
Believing that everybody is innocent till proven guilty, Srinivasan said that the BCCI would not cover up for anybody. “But our actions must be fair. We will go through the process. If somebody is found guilty, we will act sternly," he added.
"The inquiry will be done very quickly, it is an internal inquiry, we might need some information from the police. Rest is upto Mr Sawani but it will be quickly done. We have to observe all channels of natural justice. We have rules and BCCI's own system," he stressed.
Anti-corruption officer for each IPL franchisee
Further informing about the outcome of the meeting, Srinivasan said that in a bid to check corruption, the Board would appoint anti-corruption officer with each of the IPL franchises along with a security officer to monitor players' movement.
To it, all the players' agents will now be accredited by the Board. "The Working Committee decided henceforth all player agents have to be accredited by the BCCI. There will be an ACSU (Anti-Corruption and Security Unit) official appointed with each team along with a security officer," said Srinivasan, adding that access to the players would also be monitored.
Srinivasan said the Board did not have resources to tackle bookies and what they could is to monitor the players. "We can control the players to some extent but we are handicapped when it comes to control over the bookies. We will further strengthen the vigilance and monitoring of the players in such tournaments," he said.
Rajasthan Royals were represented by co-owner Manoj Badale. Besides, IPL Governing Council member Ravi Shastri and BCCI Technical Committee head Anil Kumble also participated in the meeting. Kumble joined in via video conferencing.
It was alos informed in the press conference that the players, who have been suspended by the BCCI, have been charged under section 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The Board has also suspended first-class cricketer Amit Singh, who is allegedly a bookmaker now and was arrested along with 10 other bookies on May 16.
If players are found guilty we won't hesitate to act ruthlessly: Srinivasan
Srinivisan also said that the Board has not received any information from the Delhi Police on the matter and would be seekig it during the course of the internal inquiry. "We have also requested the police to provide information to complete our inquiry. We have also offered Delhi Police all our assistance in this regard," he said.
Srinivasan also said that the Delhi Police has not informed them about the involvement of players other than the ones who have been arrested. "It's a question of three players who are alleged to have committed something wrong by doing spot-fixing. As far as BCCI is concerned we will go by report of inquiry commission. We will not hesitate to act but we can act only against people who are guilty. We have engaged the services of ICC ACSU, they are monitoring the tournament. We don't have the resources to have professionals," he said.
"If players are found guilty we won't hesitate to act ruthlessly."
IPL will survive the crisis
Blaming the greed of players for this mess, Srinivasan said, "The mistake if at all is the greed of the players. We don't encourage betting, we do not encourage anything. Betting is not legal in India, the police has to act," he said, adding that IPLwill survive the crisis.
"For the last 3-4 days there has been BCCI bashing and IPL bashing, as if the whole world has fallen down. The fact is, three players has allegedly indulged in something. IPL as a brand has not been affected. We are grateful to the public for still coming out. Accusations can be made but we are very grateful to the fans who have come out in support of cricket," he said.