Supreme Court appoints CBI SP to head team probing IPL scandal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday appointed CBI sleuth Vivek Priyadarshi to head a new investigating team to further probe the IPL-6 spot-fixing and betting scandal.

Priyadarshi, currently a superintendent of police in the anti-corruption cell of the agency, will replace 1983-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer BB Mishra as the head of the probe team following his retirement.

Priyadarshi, who has handled some of the most high- profile cases including 2G spectrum allocation scam, was the choice of the apex court-appointed three-member committee of retired judges headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha.

The committee has been entrusted the job of further investigating the IPL-6 scandal, including the allegations against the then BCCI COO Sundar Raman.

Allowing the application filed by the Justice Lodha Committee, a bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and FM I Kalifulla said "we see no reason to decline the plea and accordingly Priyadarshi will head the investigating team in place of Mishra who has been superannuated from the service".

The bench said the CBI officer would be at liberty to choose his team of officials for assistance in probing the scandal further.

Further, the new team will have all powers conferred to Mishra by its May 16, 2014 order by which the team of investigators had the power to probe, search and seize relevant documents and record evidence, it said.

The apex court clarified that the competent authority will take steps to ensure that his service is made available to the Justice Lodha Committee in this task, in addition to his job in the CBI.

The Justice Lodha Committee, which also has Justices Ashok Bhan and R V Ravenderan as members, will decide the quantum of punishment against former BCCI President N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, who was also a CSK official, and Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, who both were held guilty of betting.

With regard to allegations against the then BCCI COO Sundar Raman, the apex court said it cannot go "un-probed" and directed its newly-appointed committee to further investigate the averments against him, saying "truth must be brought to light".