Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan said late Friday night that he will not resign from his post in the wake of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan being arrested by the crime branch of the Mumbai police for his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting-spot fixing scandal.
In an interview given to the CNN-IBN television channel, Srinivassan said he had no intention of resigning. He was also quoted by the NDTV channel, as saying that Meiyappan's arrest was an attempt to target him through his son-in-law, and therefore, there was no question of him resigning.
The demand for Srinivasan's resignation is getting louder after Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings chief executive, was interrogated by crime branch officers of the Mumbai police and later arrested on Friday night.
Chennai Super Kings owner India Cements sought to distance itself from Meiyappan, saying he was just an honorary member of the management committee.
Small time Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh's call records showed that he was in constant touch with the BCCI president's son-in-law. Vindu was often seen sitting in VIP boxes, as an invitee of Meiyappan, during Super Kings matches in the IPL.
Meiyappan, who was untraceable for the past two days, was spotted at Srinivasan's farmhouse in Kodaikanal, some 500 km from Chennai. He left for Mumbai by a chartered flight from Madurai and was met there by the Crime Branch officials, who whisked him away to their south Mumbai office for questioning.
Questioned for over three hours, Meiyappan was confronted with the evidence against him and arrested around midnight.
He is likely to be produced before a court Saturday.
Srinivasan remained in the line of fire with Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and former International Cricket Council (ICC) and BCCI president Sharad Pawar's party Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) calling for his resignation as BCCI chief on moral grounds, though later the party seemed to distance itself from the demand made by a party spokesman.
Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said Srinivasan, who was aspiring to be the next ICC president, was likely to step down if Mumbai police arrested Meiyappan, who has been accused of having links with bookies.
Among other developments on Friday, a court granted Mumbai police custody of Vindu till May 28 besides of two others - hawala operator Alpesh Taneja and a bookie, Prem Taneja.
