New Delhi: Partly allowing the appeal of cricketer S Sreesanth, the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the life ban imposed by the Board of Control of Cricket in India(BCCI) on him for indulging in spot-fixing during 2013 Indian Premier League.
The apex court also directed the disciplinary committee of the BCCI to take a decision on the quantum of punishment within three months from today.
The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and KM Joseph.
Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, representing the fast bowler, had argued that there was no direct evidence to implicate Sreesanth and that the evidence provided by the prosecution was only circumstantial evidence.
It is important to note here that the Court has not disturbed the findings of guilt made by the disciplinary committee against the Kerala based cricketer.
The life ban on playing cricket was imposed on Sreesanth by the BCCI in view of his alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the 2013 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). All the 36 accused in the scandal had been discharged from the case by the Patiala House Court in July 2015.
Despite the same, the BCCI had declined to reverse its disciplinary order against Sreesanth, which it asserted was passed on the basis of evidence.
The 35-year-old fast bowler has been contending that the life ban on him was “completely unfair” and Delhi Police “continuously tortured” him in custody to extract a confession of his involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal. Sreesanth, who was arrested and later discharged by a trial court here in July 2015 in a criminal case related to the alleged spot-fixing, claimed he had to confess his involvement in the alleged crime as police tortured him in custody and threatened to implicate his family in the case.
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Ms Kalinga