The spot-fixing scandal in IPL6 took another dramatic twist on Friday with the arrest of Gurunath Meiyappan who Chennai Super Kings claims is only an honorary member of their management team.
The dramatic development threatened the status of Chennai Super Kings as an IPL franchise as well as his father-in-law N Srinivasan's continuation as BCCI president, according to Times of India who first reported Meiyappan's links with the betting syndicate.
India Cements, which owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise, distanced itself from Gurunath Meiyappan on Friday saying that he is merely an honorary member of the CSK management committee.
An official statement by Srinivasan's company Indian Cements, which owns CSK, said that Meiyappan "is neither owner, nor CEO/Team Principal", adding that he was "only one of the members (honorary) of the management team" of CSK.
A clause in the franchise agreement, signed by all IPL franchisees with the BCCI, may be the reason for this ploy.
As Meiyappan is widely regarded to be the CSK principal, there is high risk of the franchise attracting a termination clause which can be invoked against a team that brings disrepute to the IPL, the report added.
Clause 12.3 of the franchise agreements lists circumstances under which the BCCI "may terminate this agreement with immediate effect by written notice".
Sub-clause (c) under this clause reads, "the Franchisee, any Franchisee Group Company and/or any Owner acts in any way which has a material adverse effect upon the reputation or standing of the League, BCCI-IPL, BCCI, the Franchisee, the Team (or any other team in the League) and/or the game of cricket".
Two-time champions CSK have qualified for the final of the IPL6 against Mumbai Indians on Sunday May 26 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Pressure is also mounting on BCCI chief to step down in the wake of the biggest scandal to rock Indian cricket.
Soon after Meiyappan's arrest, JCP (crime) Himanshu Roy told reporters, "We interrogated him for three hours and have come to the conclusion that there is evidence of his involvement in the offence we are investigating. We will produce him in court tomorrow (Saturday)."
Meiyappan acknowledged knowing Vindu Dara Singh, arrested for his alleged role as a middleman between teams, bookies and celebrities, according to the report.
Meiyappan said Vindu had insisted that he bet on matches, and he finally did so on a game held in Kolkata. The Chennai players apparently used to entertain Vindu as he was known to be Meiyappan's friend.