Justice RM Lodha clarified on Friday that all documents relating to the IPL spot-fixing scam were safe after it was widely reported that thieves had broken into the office-cum-residence of Supreme Court lawyer, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, the secretary to the Lodha Commission.
"I am really shocked that the media is circulating such reports without verifying them with me. All IPL-related papers are safe and no document of the committee has been stolen," Justice Lodha told HT.
On August 19, Sankaranarayanan had filed a complaint with the Vasant Kunj (North) SHO about an incident of theft. However, he didn’t mention exactly what papers were stolen from his house. There was no mention of IPL documents in the complaint.
Sankaranarayanan wrote in his complaint that, "I find from a perusal of the premises that certain very sensitive papers concerning a high-powered court committee have gone missing. Almost nothing else has been taken on immediate inspection and this is therefore very serious."
"Besides working for this committee, Sankaranarayanan has also been assigned other tasks by the Supreme Court. What he told me was that his personal office had been burgled but he also informed that nothing relating to the IPL scam had gone missing," said Justice Lodha.
The Vasant Kunj (North) SHO, Virender Singh said that, "We had asked specifically from the complainant what sort of papers were stolen but he hasn’t got back to us. There is no specific mention about the stolen property in the complaint."
{{/usCountry}}The Vasant Kunj (North) SHO, Virender Singh said that, "We had asked specifically from the complainant what sort of papers were stolen but he hasn’t got back to us. There is no specific mention about the stolen property in the complaint."
{{/usCountry}}The Supreme Court had constituted the Justice Lodha Committee in January this year to suggest the quantum of punishment against Gurunath Meiyappan (owner of CSK), Raj Kundra (owner of Rajasthan Royals) and the two franchises, India Cements Ltd and Jaipur IPL.
In July this year, the committee suspended CSK and RR from the IPL for two years and banned Meiyappan and Kundra for life. The committee also comprises former Justice Ashok Bhan and former Justice R Raveendran.