Agencies/New Delhi

Six India international cricketers, including one who is part of the current squad, face investigation for their alleged roles in a match-fixing scandal, a report said yesterday.
Two former Indian players were also alleged to have been involved in match-fixing, said the panel, headed by retired judge Mukul Mudgal, investigating betting and spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) according to NDTV channel.
The names of the players have been given to the court in a sealed cover, the report said. The probe committee, set up by the Supreme Court last year, submitted its 170-page report Monday.
The investigation also found a cricket team official - Gurunath Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings - guilty of illegal betting. He allegedly passed information to illegal bookmakers.
Meiyappan is the son-in-law of N Srinivasan, head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and recently elected head of the International Cricket Council. “Roots of corruption and malpractices have crept in deep into the game of cricket, more particularly, the IPL, and are seeping into the game at an alarming rate,” NDTV quoted the report as saying.
“The BCCI, must adopt a ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’ in matters of corruption in the game. It must adopt a far more pro-active role,” it continued.
The IPL with cricket in the shortened Twenty20 format is hugely popular in India as well as the rest of the cricketing world. The league that began in 2008 has seen various allegations including kickbacks in television rights as well as irregularities in sponsorship deals and the bidding process for the league’s franchises.  

BCCI chief to defy calls to quit over IPL scandal
Meanwhile, Srinivasan was expected to defy calls to step down as India cricket chief despite a damning court inquiry that implicated a relative in illegal betting. A C Muthiah, a former head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said Srinivasan’s role in the sport’s administration was untenable following the findings.
“It has definitely weakened Srinivasan’s position,” Muthiah said. “He has to recuse himself according to corporate principles because it is a clear case of conflict of interest. Corporate governance is a very important factor. You can’t have tainted people to run international cricket,” he said.
But Srinivasan, who successfully weathered last year’s betting and fixing IPL scandals, was expected to brush aside the calls to quit the BCCI, with supporters saying he has not been accused of wrongdoing.
“I can’t see Srinivasan stepping down just because of the report since he himself has not been found guilty of anything,” a senior BCCI member said. “Besides, he is in total control of the board. Who is going to go against him?” the member told AFP on condition of anonymity.  Another official added: “This is just a report. Everyone needs to take a step back and wait till the Supreme Court rules on the matter.”
The Mudgal panel, which submitted its report to the Supreme Court, dismissed Srinivasan’s claim that his son in law Meiyappan was merely a cricket enthusiast, saying he was the face of the franchise. It also said Srinivasan himself could be facing a conflict of interest by being the BCCI president and also the owner of the IPL franchise, “a serious issue” that needed to be considered by the court.
Srinivasan had stepped aside as BCCI president last June when Meiyappan was named in the scandal. He was reinstated by the Supreme Court in October after he was unanimously re-elected as BCCI head.