BCCI should have waited till police finished probe: Sports Ministry

New Delhi – The sports ministry today said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should have waited for the police investigations to get over before giving a clean chit to Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra.

“The BCCI might have cleared them but I think the Indian Cricket Board should wait for the police probe to get over,” said P.K. Deb, secretary sports.

The ministry has been critical of the BCCI’s way of handling the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal and were also vocal in asking board president N. Srinivasan, who is also the father-in-law of Meiyappan, to step aside pending investigation.

A two-member panel, comprising former High Court Judges T. Jayaram Chouta and R. Balasubramanian, set-up by the BCCI in the wake of the spot fixing and betting scandal had given a clean chit to Meiyappan and Kundra.

The panel submitted its report to the BCCI Working Committee in Kolkata on Sunday.

The clean chit will allow Srinivasan, who had stepped aside handing over charge to interim president Jagmohan Dalmiya, might return as board chief.

Srinivasan is likely to chair the Board’s Working Committee and the IPL Governing Council meet here on Friday.