Mudgal report may confirm Gurunath role in IPL betting, put CSK under cloud

It has been reliably learnt from the forensic lab in Mumbai which is investigating the alleged tapped phone calls between Meiyappan and Vindoo Dara Singh that the voice samples were that of Srinivasan’s son-in-law. Meiyappan had been charged originally by the Mumbai Police for  having allegedly passed on important match information to bookies and placed bets on IPL matches through Vindoo.

The committee is also learnt to have found enough evidence to conclude that Meiyappan was not just a ‘cricket enthusiast’ as his father-in-law and the then BCCI’s president Srinivasan had called him in days following the IPL corruption scandal broke last year.

According to the IPL constitution, a franchise stands to be terminated if its owner is found to have indulged in betting on IPL matches. But when contacted, CSK marketing head Rakesh Singh was non-committal on the issue. “This is an absolute legal thing and who are you and I to talk about this? When a matter is sub judice, this is an unfair question to ask and would be unfair on my part to reply. The matter should be left to the right people,” Singh told The Indian Express.

The interim report filed by the Mudgal committee in February had said that it could not come to a “conclusive finding” that the voice on the alleged tapes belonged to Meiyappan. “The transcribed transcripts indicate that the name Guru cropped up in the conversations. The allegations are that the tapped phone calls belong to Mr Gurunath Meiyappan and instructions were given by him for placing of bets. The only materials against Mr Gurunath Meiyappan are the tapes. Unfortunately, the Mumbai Police did not place any scientific evidence before the Committee that the voice in the tape in fact was that of Mr Gurunath Meiyappan,” it said.

The report though also stated that Meiyappan’s involvement in betting on IPL matches could be ascertained if the forensic lab found the voice samples to be his. “It is however reasonable to hold that in the event of the tapes being found to be genuine, un-tampered and reliable and in the event that the voice in the tape is proved to be that of Mr Gurunath Meiyappan, there can be no iota of doubt that Mr Gurunath Meiyappan was indulging in betting in IPL matches,” it said.

The report had also stated that they could not confirm that Meiyappan was the ‘team principal’ of CSK as was alleged. “Though account books were seized from bookies, no money trail from Mr Gurunath Meiyappan was proved before the Committee by the Mumbai Police,” it stated.