Spot fixing: Mudgal panel examines three Indian players
The Justice Mukul Mudgal committee examined three India players last week as part of its IPL spot-fixing investigations.
The Justice Mukul Mudgal committee examined three India players last week as part of its IPL spot-fixing investigations.
A top BCCI official told HT that the investigators, led by BB Mishra, Deputy Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, sought answers to specific questions and told them they could divulge any other information, even as a witness.
“The Committee wanted to examine certain players. We just made the arrangements. The players deposed before the commission in three separate sessions last month,” the official said. “The atmosphere was friendly and the players fully cooperated.”
The Board official refused to divulge their names. HT has learnt they are household names. The committee sought clarification from them on several inputs it has received from various sources.
For example, the official claimed the committee asked a player about an alleged bookie and his lady associate whom he had met during a series in Sri Lanka. It is alleged the player befriended them and they enjoyed easy access to his room during the matches.
“The committee wants to meet some more players. We have received communication in this regard and we will arrange the meetings,” the official said. It is learnt the committee also sought Sri Lanka Cricket’s cooperation in the probe, but it didn’t respond positively.
The Mudgal panel informed the Supreme Court on September 1 that it wanted to record the statements of some current India players on their return from the England tour. It had said there was a long list of issues to be taken up. One of them was matching voices from telephone recordings received from many sources.
It is learnt that the investigators are going to send these phone recordings for an audio spectrographic test after collecting voice samples of some of the persons suspected to be linked to fixing. It was not confirmed whether the panel took voice samples of the three players. The tests are to be conducted at the Central Forensic Science laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh.
The Mudgal committee has to submit its findings to the Apex court by this month end. The next hearing is scheduled on November 10. The court had on May 16 asked the panel to investigate its initial findings with the prime focus on the 13 players and officials whose names the panel submitted to the court in an envelope. That list includes N Srinivasan, asked by the court not to function as BCCI president until the probe is completed.