Former BCCI President Anurag Thakur has made a big revelation in the context of 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing. Thakur stated that there were 13 names allegedly involved in this illegal activity and all of them should be disclosed. All the names were submitted to the apex court in a sealed envelope by the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee in 2014. However, none of the names was revealed.
According to an Indian Express report, Thakur said in an interview that the Indian cricket board should have been more strict in penalising the cricketers who were found guilty. He said,
“For me, the institution is more important than the individuals. I am not bothered about any ‘A’ or ‘B’ player but BCCI as an institution. The envelope containing the name of the cricketers was never opened by the Court, which means the issue from where the entire episode started wasn’t resolved. But other issues against the BCCI were opened.”
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Thakur also demanded harsher punishment who were involved in fixing. He said,
“If anyone is involved unethical practice or match-fixing, there must be a harsher punishment because no name is bigger than the game.”
“Certain A, B or C players are roaming free after so many years. They are sitting in TV studios. The same TV channels and newspapers which wrote against them on fixing and betting, they have called them cricket experts. So, there has to be some law and harsher punishment for such individuals and activities,” he added.
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Moving ahead, Thakur spoke about the National Sports Ethics Commission Bill and said that he will approach the Parliament with this particular Bill. He said,
“The bill aims to curb the menace of match-fixing, age fraud and sexual harassment in sports. It could be introduced in the winter or the budget session. The moment it is introduced, the debate will start.”
Anurag Thakur was removed from the post of BCCI President along with former secretary Ajay Shirke earlier in January 2017 by the Supreme Court.
