New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals chief executive Raghu Iyer said the franchisee will cooperate with the investigating agencies if they probe its co-owner Raj Kundra’s alleged role in betting in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Iyer also stated that the IPL revenues will take a hit if the Twenty20 league is shifted out of India. Iyer told IANS that even Kundra has agreed to cooperate in the investigation if asked. As for this year’s IPL, he said if it is shifted to South Africa as once in the past, the revenues will take a substantial hit and hoped for a clear picture to emerge after a working committee meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) slated for Friday.
Reacting to Justice Mukul Mudgal’s report on spot-fixing and betting, Iyer told IANS that “the report has not indicted Raj, it has merely said his role in the alleged scandal should be further probed.”
“In fact, Raj has also agreed to cooperate with the investigating agencies. As a franchise, our stand is very clear, we will cooperate with the investigation agencies.”The Supreme Court panel headed by Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal has come down heavily on Kundra and his celebrity actor-wife Shilpa Shetty for their role in betting in the IPL.
“We will abide by whatever the Supreme Court says in the matter next month and the BCCI decision,” Iyer said on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Asked whether the BCCI had its checks and balances in place when the IPL was launched, Iyer said: “They were, but maybe certain things go diluted. When the league was launched, only a billion- dollar company could bid for a team. These were BBCI’s decisions and we can’t complain about it hindsight if they didn’t work.
“Rahul Dravid and I have always been asked whether match-fixing will end forever. The answer is: there will always be some individuals who will indulge in malpractices, these will be isolated cases. “There are strict laws for murder and rape, but they still happen, cricket is no exception. Black sheep will always be there.” —IANS
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