BCCI to decide on Ajit Chandila issue this week

According to a BCCI source, the panel, which is to meet here on December 24, has the powers to impose punishment, including life bans, on the cricketers accused of trying to spot-fix IPL games.

Ajit Chandila, along with Ankeet Chavan, was aquitted in the IPL spot-fixing case earlier this year.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s three-member disciplinary panel headed by President Shashank Manohar is to meet this week to decide on the fate of cricketers Ajit Chandila and Hiken Shah, who allegedly tried to fix IPL games in 2013 and this year respectively.

According to a BCCI source, the panel, which is to meet here on December 24, has the powers to impose punishment, including life bans, on the cricketers accused of trying to spot-fix IPL games.

Chandila was arrested by the police for trying to spot-fix IPL games in 2013 along with his then Rajasthan Royals teammates S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan, both of them having been banned for life by the BCCI.

The BCCI is yet to decide on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to Chandila, who has been suspended from the game since the scandal broke two years ago.

The BCCI will also decide on the punishment to be awarded to Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketer Hiken Shah for his alleged breach of the Board’s anti-corruption code ahead of this year’s IPL.

“Hiken Shah made a corrupt approach to one of his colleagues from First-Class cricket, who is also a member of one of the IPL teams,” BCCI had said in a statement in July.

“The approached player immediately informed the incident to his franchise team. The franchise team followed the process of informing the incident to the Anti Corruption Unit of the BCCI. Based on the information, BCCI President, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya (now deceased), instructed ACU to conduct an immediate enquiry into the matter,” the statement said.

“After a detailed inquiry into the reported incident, the inquiry commissioner found Hiken Shah guilty of committing breach of Articles 2.1.1; 2.1.2; and 2.1.4 of the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code for participants and recommended their provisions to the BCCI President,” the statement added.

Shah is also under suspension pending the final decision by the disciplinary panel which also has Jyotiraditya Scindia and Niranjan Shah as its members.

Meanwhile, the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy’s Board is to meet one day earlier, on December 23, at the Cricket Centre here to “decide on the structure of the NCA and appoint batting and bowling coaches,” said a board source.

The NCA Board is headed by Niranjan Shah of Saurashtra with former Test cricketers Dilip Vengsarkar and Chetan Chauhan among its members.