Sundar Raman not guilty, can stay as IPL COO: BCCI secretary Thakur
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur defended Sundar Raman continuing as the Indian Premier League Chief Operating Officer (COO) on Thursday. "There is no verdict against him. There is an inquiry going on. See, when we took over, there was an inquiry against these two teams (CSK and RR) as well," Thakur said.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur defended Sundar Raman continuing as the Indian Premier League Chief Operating Officer (COO) on Thursday.
The Justice Mukul Mudgal probe report said Raman was in touch with the contact of a bookie and had called him eight times in a season.
Asked how Raman still continued in his post, Thakur told a news conference: "Sundar Raman is an employee of the Board and he does not have that say to be a decision maker in the Board.
"See, it is the IPL Governing Council which takes the decision and not the employees. It is the members who take decisions. They (employees) implement the decision which we take."
A key decision-maker
However, the Mudgal Committee, which investigated the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, termed Raman a key decision-maker in the IPL.
The report said Raman was practically dealing with all aspects of organising the game. He was, therefore, the spirit behind the entire exercise and cannot be said to be unconcerned with what goes on in the course of the tournament, especially if it has the potential of bringing disrepute to the game/BCCI.
The Mudgal Committee observed that Raman as COO was charged with overseeing general operations, sponsorship activities, TV production, estimating costs, negotiation of contracts, administration duties, travel and transport, etc.
However, the BCCI secretary said Raman has not been found guilty. "There is no verdict against him. There is an inquiry going on. See, when we took over, there was an inquiry against these two teams (CSK and RR) as well.
"We have waited for the Lodha Committee to come out with its verdict. Now that it has, we have decided to implement it in full."
The Mudgal Committee had observed, "We are, therefore, not inclined to let the allegations made against Raman go un-probed, even if it means a further investigation by the investigating team provided to the probe committee or by any other means. Truth about the allegations made against Sundar Raman must be brought to light…"
The report added: "The observations made regarding his role and conduct simply give rise to a serious suspicion about his involvement in the betting affairs of the team owners/officials apart from suggesting that having received information about betting activities in connection with Indian Premier League matches, he remained totally inert in the matter instead of taking suitable action warranted under the circumstances."
