RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh High Court has ordered Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to refer the case of former Indian pacer T P Sudhindra, who is serving a life ban in alleged act of corruption, to BCCI Ombudsman and granted a period of six months to Ombudsman to take decision on the remittance, sought by the cricketer.
With it, the High Court has granted liberty to the cricketer to present fresh facts and evidence directly to the Ombudsman. According to the constitution of the BCCI, the Ombudsman cannot take any such matter directly for consideration as any such matter can go through the apex council of the BCCI to the Ombudsman.
The single bench judge Justice Arvind Singh Chandel issued the order to the BCCI while hearing the petition filed by senior counsel Kishore Bhaduri and his assistant counsel Pankaj Singh, on behalf of the petitioner Sudhindra.
The senior counsel submitted that former Indian cricketer S Sreesanth was facing similar charges and he was granted remittance by the Supreme Court of India. In another case, Bombay High Court had directed the BCCI to withdraw the life ban order of BCCI on cricketer Ashok Chouhan. Considering the cases of Sreesanth and Chouhan On these grounds, Sudheendra can be allowed to make a comeback into the game, the senior counsel submitted.
According to the case history, Sudhindra had allegedly demanded Rs 40000 to bowl a no-ball in a T20 league match played in the year 2012-13, which is called spot-fixing. A year ago, Sudhindra had filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court seeking to revoke the life ban. Besides, four other cricketers were also banned by the BCCI.
The former Indian right-arm medium pace bowler Sudhindra allegedly caught in spot-fixing during the Madhya Pradesh Premier League T20.
The petitioner told the court in his petition that the BCCI had banned former Indian pacer S Sreesanth for lifetime, but the apex court had given relief to Sreesanth by removing the life ban imposed on him, justice should be done to him on the same lines and he should be granted relief, the petitioner said.
The petitioner further said that the ban has ruined his career and he cannot become a coach if the ban is not lifted. In case of lifting of lifetime ban, he can join domestic cricket in the coming time and can coach a team and pass on their talent and experience to budding cricketers.
Madhya Pradesh Premier League T20 tournament was organized in the year 2012 under the banner of Indore District Cricket Association. A league match was to be played between Rewa and Sagar. During a sting, he was allegedly caught demanding Rs 40000 for bowling no-ball in the match.
