No name bigger than cricket, says Anurag Thakur
Thakur was removed as BCCI President by SC after contempt of court.
Former BCCI President Anurag Thakur IANS
In a new turn of events, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President, Anurag Thakur has asked competent authorities to reveal names of all the 13-players that were involved in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 spot-fixing controversy. The names were enclosed in a sealed envelope and submitted to the Supreme Court by Justice Mukul Mudgal-led committee in February 2014.
Thakur, who was removed as BCCI President by SC after contempt of court is of the view, that the BCCI has been lazy in punishing the culprits ( players/personnel both).
Speaking to Times of India, Thakur said:
"For me, individuals are not important. The institution is important. I am not bothered about any 'A' or 'B' player. I am only concerned about 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."
On punishing the culprits
"If anyone is involved in match-fixing or unethical practice, 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."
On introducing 'National Sports Ethics Commission Bill'
"I am approaching Parliament with this bill. The bill aims to curb the menace of match-fixing, age fraud and sexual harassment in sports. The bill also has a clause that includes 10-year jail term for match fixing, and life ban as well."
On deadlock between CoA and BCCI
"If you look back at Oct 1, 2016, BCCI had accepted more than 90 per cent of reforms. For the rest, we went back to the SC. Has anything has changed since then? It's been more than 13 months but we have made no headway. The only thing which has changed is that BCCI has lost its position globally. BCCI has lost crores in revenue."
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