Sports ministry calls for enquiry into wrongdoing in IPL

MUMBAI: The ongoing controversies might just be the beginning of trouble for Indian Premier League as the union sports ministry has sought an enquiry into alleged wrongdoing in the cash-rich league.

While speaking in Lok Sabha, sports minister Ajay Maken revealed that the Sports secretary has written a letter to Revenue Secretary last week and has sought a thorough probe by Enforcement Directorate as well as Income Tax department.

He also told the House that Finance Ministry has issued 19 notices to BCCI on alleged foreign exchange violations to the tune of Rs 10.77 billion relating to the IPL.

Sports ministry joint secretary had also written a letter to ED on 17 May seeking speedy probe into the matter, Maken added.

The sports minister, who had failed in his earlier attempts to bring BCCI under National Sports Bill, also made a renewed call to bring BCCI under Right to Information.

Former cricketer and Bhartiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad had vociferously raised the IPL issue in parliament by making a strong pitch for a special audit of the controversy ridden tournament. Azad was supported by other parties including JD (U) and Left members in his tirade against IPL besides his own party BJP.

The IPL has been in line of fire from the political class ever since Hindi news channel India TV carried a sting operation which brought to light the ?murky? dealings between players and the franchises. The sting also brought to fore the fact that IPL players, particularly the lesser known ones, were susceptible to match fixing.

The IPL Governing Council handed out suspension orders to Mohnish Mishra, Shalabh Srivastava, T.P. Sudhindra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali.

The matter is already being probed by newly formed anti-corruption unit of BCCI headed by Ravi Sawani, the former chief of ICC?s Anti-Corruption Unit.