Supeme Court reserves order on spot-fixing probe panel for IPL

The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its order on setting up a panel to probe allegation of spot-fixing and betting against some of the cricketers playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) and BCCI president N. Srinivasan.

The apex court bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik reserved the order after it was told here that Justice Mukul Mudgal has consented to head the panel to investigate the allegations against the cricketers and Srinivasan. Senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam at the outset of the hearing told the court that Justice Mudgal, while agreeing to undertake the probe, said he would like to be assisted by former CBI director M.L. Sharma and two police officers, one from Chennai police and the other from Delhi Police.

The Supreme Court, during the course of the last hearing of the matter, asked whether Justice Mudgal is inclined to preside over the probe panel. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) resisted the probe panel, saying that the allegations against the cricketers and Srinivasan are based on an inquiry conducted by Justice Mudgal himself. So, the investigation into those allegations should be undertaken by a different person.

Apparently, unimpressed by the BCCI submission, Justice Patnaik said the court will pass a judicial order and reserved it.