Rahul Dravid said the truth will set you free. But at the moment, it just seems to be trapping BCCI president N Srinivasan with each passing day.
As if the demands for his resignation weren’t enough, Srinivasan now has to contend with the startling revelation that the ICC warned the BCCI of Gurunath Meiyappan’s involvement with bookies in the early days of the sixth season of the Indian Premier League.
If the ICC warned Gurunath Meiyappan about betting, Srinivasan has more questions to answer. PTI
CNN-IBN accessed the transcripts of conversation between Vindoo Dara Singh and Meiyappan, who are both under arrest for their involvement in the betting scandal that has rocked Indian cricket over the past two weeks.
The transcripts show Gurunath warning Vindoo to be careful about his dealings. It also shows the CSK boss telling Vindoo “ICC has warned BCCI about me.”
The transcripts also show Gurunath giving specific orders to Vindoo on amounts to be placed. Gurunath’s instructions were also about specific players in other IPL teams playing on a day. It also shows Meiyappan was even instructing bets on specific runs in an over.
The revelations raise a few questions that the Srinivasan will find hard to answer:
1. Did Srinivasan not know about the ICC warning?
Simnply put, the ICC usually informs the Board president of any such warning. So if they did inform BCCI, did he conveniently pass on the information to Gurunath, who in turn told Vindoo about it. It gives a whole new meaning to the term: “I heard it through the grapevine.”
2. If Srinivasan did not know about the ICC warning, then who passed on the information to Gurunath?
Does that mean more BCCI officials are involved? So far, only players, bookies and Gurunath have been arrested. There are no BCCI officials who had any direct involvement. But if someone in the BCCI had tipped off Meiyappan regarding the ICC warning, it raises questions about the board’s commitment to cleaning up its act.
3. Do Gurunath’s specific instructions about other IPL teams mean more players are involved?
If Gurunath was prepared to put money on specific players in other teams then was he just backing his gambler’s instinct or did he know more?
4. Should the police question Srinivasan too?
Srinivasan has denied this but can he say the same thing to the police too? His denials can’t be taken at face value any more. The Gurunath arrest brought the scandal to Srinivasan’s doorstep but the revelation about the warning means that Srinivasan should face the cops.
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