The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a stern action against Haryana off-spinner Ajit Chandila by slapping a life ban on him for his involvement in the IPL 2013 spot-fixing scandal. On the other hand, former Mumbai batsman Hiken Shah was suspended for making a corrupt approach to a player.
The 32-year-old Chandila , an off-spinner who was found guilty of spot-fixing during his stint with Rajasthan Royals, was handed a tougher punishment for violating the codes pertaining to accepting bribes, fixing, underperforming, trying to induce a fellow player and betting. The Disciplinary Committee of BCCI had taken this decision in a meeting held at its headquarters in Mumbai. The three-member panel, headed by BCCI president Shashank Manohar, also comprising Jyotiraditya Scindia and Niranjan Shah, announced their final verdict. They have deferred a decision on Chandila’s co-accused Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf till February 12, giving him a final deadline of February 9 to file his reply. Thus the cricketing board has adopted a zero-tolerance policy to weed out corruption from cricket which was tarnishing the gentleman’s game.
“Chandila is held guilty of misconduct and corruption within the Articles 2.1.1; Article 2.1.2; Article 2.1.3; Article 2.1.4; Article 2.2.2; Article 2.2.3; Article 2.4.1 of the BCCI Anti Corruption Code. He is banned for Life from playing or representing cricket in any form or to be associated in any way with the activities of the Board or its Affiliates,” BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.
“The endeavour of BCCI is to clean cricket and any kind of malpractices will be dealt with severely,” Thakur added.
Chandila and Shah had appeared in person before the Committee on December 24 last and were given time till January 4 to file a written response to the charges against them.
The panel met again on January 5 when Shah appeared in person, made an oral submission and a written reply to the findings of the enquiry against him.
But a MCOCA court in Delhi had last year dropped all charges against Chandila, S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and 39 other individuals who had been chargesheeted by the Delhi Police. However, that decision did not impact the life bans on Sreesanth and Chavan imposed by the BCCI.
