The Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee that was tasked with the responsibility of probing the spot fixing scam in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) submitted its interim report on the case to the Supreme Court on Friday, and also sought an extension of two months to complete its investigations.
The Supreme Court has reportedly listed the matter for hearing on October 1. The panel met in Chennai on Wednesday and Thursday to give the report a final shape. Former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly did not turn up for the final meeting, but recorded his views, reports said.
Justice Mukul Mudgal had investigated the IPL 2013 betting and spot-fixing controversy after the Supreme Court asked him to.
Supreme Court had rejected the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) panel and had asked Justice Mudgal to investigate.
The 2013 Indian Premier League spot fixing and betting case arose when the Delhi Police arrested three Rajasthan Royals cricketers, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the charges of spot-fixing. In a separate case, Mumbai Police arrested Vindu Dara Singh and Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting and having links with bookies.
Sreesanth was arrested from his friend's house, whereas Chandila and Chavan were arrested from their team hotel in Mumbai. Rajasthan Royals suspended the contracts of the three players until the investigation was completed.
Delhi Police claimed that Sreesanth and Chavan had confessed to being involved in the spot fixing. The police also claimed that Chandila had tried to get other players, including Chavan, involved in the spot fixing under the direction of the bookies.
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The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended the players till further investigation. On June 4, 2013, Delhi Police said that Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan and 23 other people arrested by them in the spot-fixing scandal were going to be slapped with the provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) since they were acting under the command of underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel.
On May 26, 2013, the BCCI had announced that a three member commission will investigate the role of Mr. Meiyappan in the spot-fixing and betting scandal. Mr. Meiyappan was later released on bail by a Mumbai court on June 3, 2013.
On June 5, 2013, Rajasthan Royals team co-owner Raj Kundra was questioned by the Delhi Police for alleged involvement in illegal betting. The next day, Delhi Police claimed that he had confessed to them of placing bets on his IPL team through a bookie who was his friend. On June 7, 2013, the Rajasthan Royals team management said Kundra would be suspended and all his shares in the team taken back if the charges against him of betting were proved. Because of this, he was suspended from the IPL by the BCCI on June 10, 2013.
On March 25, 2014 Supreme Court of India told N. Srinivasan to step down from his position on his own as BCCI president in order to ensure a fair investigation into the betting and spot-fixing charges levied against his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan who was Team Principal of Chennai Super Kings, else it would pass verdict asking him to step down. The apex court had then said it was nauseating to see Srinivasan continuing as BCCI chief despite the allegations against his son-in-law.