Pressure is mounting on N Srinivasan to quit as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the spot-fixing and betting scandal that has rocked Indian cricket. Ajay Shirke, the Treasurer of BCCI and its Secretary Sanjay Jagdale resigned from their posts on Friday. Sources have told NDTV that all five vice-presidents of the BCCI - Arun Jaitley, Shivlal Yadav, Chitrak Mitra, Niranjan Shah, Sudhir Dabir - may also resign soon.
Here are 10 developments in this story:
While Mr Jagdale said he is hurt by whatever is happening, Mr Shirke said his personal credibility was at stake. "I was extremely hurt by the beating of BCCI's image. And this (scandal) is going to have long-term repercussions on the Board and its future. I resigned for the comfort of my soul," said Mr Shirke. Mr Jagdale recused himself from a three-member inquiry commission set up by the BCCI to investigate allegations that Mr Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is associated with bookies and indulged in betting during the IPL.
BCCI Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur said on Friday that he had sought a Special General Meeting of the Board, where he and other members would "speak their minds."
The BCCI has called an emergency meeting on Saturday, June 8. Twenty four of the 30 full members of the board are expected to be at the meeting. These include the representatives of state boards like Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia who want N Srinivasan to quit because his son-in-law has been arrested on charges of betting.
The meeting is likely to be stormy and Mr Srinivasan, who has refused to quit, is likely to face many questions. Among them, some are likely to be on the allegation by Mumbai Police sources on Friday that they have phone records of a conversation between Mr Meiyappan and actor Vindu Dara Singh, where the former allegedly said he had been warned by the ICC or International Cricket Council, to be careful of the company he was keeping. Vindu is under arrest too.
Police sources said Mr Meiyappan was allegedly warned just when the IPL began. Questions are now being raised on whether Mr Srinivasan knew about the alleged warning, since he is an ICC director. On Friday evening too, Mr Srinivasan flatly denied any knowledge of the alleged ICC warning to Mr Meiyappan. And said once more that, "I am not resigning."
BCCI sources said that a working committee meeting cannot vote out the board president, who is an elected functionary. But a working committee can, at its meeting, ask for a special Annual General Meeting or AGM to be called, where he can be voted out. Mr Srinivasan's term as president ends in September, when the next AGM is scheduled.
Siddharth Trivedi, a Rajasthan Royals bowler, on Friday deposed as a prosecution witness in the IPL spot-fixing case being probed by the Delhi Police, sources said. He recorded his statements in a Delhi court on Friday. Trivedi reportedly told the police that the bookies were in touch with his arrested colleague Ajit Chandila and some others who used to party together and that some foreign cricketers used to attend these parties. (Read)
Sachin Tendulkar spoke for the first time on the IPL spot-fixing scandal on Friday and said that it "hurts when the game of cricket is in the news for the wrong reasons. The developments in the last two weeks have been shocking and disappointing." (IPL spot-fixing: Full coverage)
The Tamil Nadu Police on Friday raided two hotels of Vikram Aggarwal, who was summoned for questioning in the IPL betting case. Later in the day, Mr Aggarwal was questioned at the Crime Branch office in Mumbai. He has been summoned on Saturday. Mr Aggarwal had been asked to surrender before the Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday but he missed the deadline. His plea for anticipatory bail was rejected by the Madras High Court. Police allege Mr Aggarwal was active in betting circles and that he introduced Vindu to Mr Meiyappan.
Cricketer Ankeet Chavan was granted conditional bail till June 6 for his wedding by a Delhi Court on Thursday. Chavan had sought bail on the ground that his marriage is fixed for June 2.
