Riding on a botched up investigation, speedster S Sreesanth finally got the life-time ban lifted on him. The Kerala High Court on Monday lifted the ban imposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sreesanth for his alleged involvement in the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing case.
In his order, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque said that Sreesanth never attempted to disapprove of the conduct of Jiju Janardhanan, his friend and co-accused in same case, after the scandal broke out. The Court further said that "the impassive conduct of Sreesanth made the BCCI Disciplinary Committee suspect his role and to conclude that there was circumstantial evidence against him".
"Complacency in the matter on the part of Sreesanth is really condemnable. To uphold the dignity of the game, he should have publicly disapproved (of) the conduct of Jiju Janardhanan, especially when his name was dragged into the controversy. Any how, having suffered a ban now almost for four years, nothing further is required in this matter," the HC judgement said.
This came as no surprise for anyone within the BCCI, as it was clear from the Day One that the Delhi Police had botched up the investigation, being carried out during the tenure of former Commissioner of Police Neeraj Kumar. That's why BCCI, not long back, had filed an affidavit in the high court explaining its position.
It said: "The decision of the sessions court to acquit the petitioner from the criminal charges has no impact whatsoever on the decision of the internal disciplinary committee of the BCCI to ban the petitioner from playing cricket tournaments organised by the BCCI and/or its affiliates".
On Monday also, a top board official told DNA: "Don't forget that BCCI is in a spot right now and facing all kind of probes because of this very case." The official was hinting at the Justice Lodha panel recommendations which has, in a way, put a complete question-mark over BCCI's own existence.
"It will be difficult to revoke the ban imposed by a disciplinary committee in 2013. No way the Board will allow Sreesanth to either play domestic cricket or get any kind of other benefit," the official reiterated. Interestingly, Neeraj Kumar was made the chief of BCCI's Anti-Corruption Security Unit (ACSU) soon after his retirement. When asked why an officer, under whom the spot-fixing investigation was severely compromised, was given such a position, the BCCI official said, "Yes, it seemed like the police's investigation was a botched-up one. But Mr Kumar was not a part of the investigations for the entire duration. The investigation was carried on after his retirement also."
DNA has reliably learnt that the Sreesanth matter will also be taken up during the next Committee of Administrators (COA) meeting in Delhi on Wednesday.
Unless there is an effective law in India to tackle the menace of match-fixing and betting, the chances that the likes of Sreesanth will slip out are high, said a cricket observer. "There is no law till date in India to cover match-fixing or betting. Even the Supreme Court has left it to the wisdom of Parliament to decide on such a sensitive issue," said another former BCCI official who was at the helm when Sreesanth was charged in 2013.
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 "S Sreesanth")
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