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Suspended Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed on Monday that he was financing petitioner Aditya Verma in the IPL spot-fixing case.
He told a private television channel, “I am financing the petition against Mr. Srinivasan and others. There is no harm in backing anyone who helps me. BCCI wants to sweep everything under the carpet.”
Mr. Modi also tweeted: “I agree conflict of interest must go. Further the guilty must be punished and made example of. CSK and RR must be cancelled.”
Mr. Verma was pleased that something good would come out of the case and expected the apex court to set matters right and stop Mr. Srinivasan from contesting (for the post of the Board president).
Mr. Srinivasan however, said he would not react to matters under the apex court’s consideration.
Queried about some strong observations made by the Supreme Court, a senior counsel representing the defendant in the case said to The Hindu, “When the other side argued the case, the Supreme Court asked us some questions such as the one relating to the conflict of interest.”
“It is for us to reply to those questions as and when our turn comes. The observations made by the honourable court are not a verdict in themselves,” he added.
A senior Board official close to Mr. Srinivasan told this newspaper: “We are confident that when our turn comes we will be able to put our side forcefully before the Supreme Court. We respect the apex court.”
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said, “The matter is before the court, [I] will not comment on the case.” He added the BCCI would have to abide by the apex court’s decision.
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi said “I am happy and sad at how things are taking shape.”
“I am sad that Supreme Court had to show the light to the people on how to run the game which has millions of passionate followers from all sections. But I am happy that eventually truth is prevailing. It will be good for cricket, which is truly a gentleman’s game even in this commercial and competitive set up of today,” he added. Yesteryear off-spin legend Erapalli Prasanna said: “We should all wait for the final decision of the court and refrain from passing comments at this stage.”