The BCCI Ombudsman, Vineet Saran, has reversed Ajit Chandila’s lifetime suspension and shortened it to seven years, terminating on January 18, 2023. The IPL was severely impacted by a massive controversy in the 2013 season. S. Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, and Ajit Chandila from the Rajasthan Royals were the cricket players involved in the scandalous ‘spot-fixing’ incident. They were all sentenced to life bans from the game of cricket by the Supreme Court of India.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reversed Sreesanth’s and Chavan’s bans a couple of years ago. This Tuesday (February 21), the BCCI Ombudsman Vineet Saran declared the life ban on the third accused, Chandila, to be lifted. Chandila’s ban was shortened to 7 years instead.
Sreesanth moved on to represent the Ranji team of Kerala, while Chavan resumed playing cricket by appearing for a club side in Mumbai.
Chandila’s suspension ended on January 18, and he can now return to the sport. In 2017, the Kerala High Court reversed the life ban imposed on Sreesanth by the BCCI in response to the 2013 IPL spot-fixing incident.
In his ruling, Saran mentioned that the situation arose as a result of a criminal case (Case Crime No. 20/2013) registered against the applicant regarding spot-fixing in the IPL. As a result of the inquiry, BCCI suspended the applicant from participating in all cricketing activities on 17.05.2013. In addition to the criminal proceedings, disciplinary proceedings were also initiated against him. Consequently, the applicant’s request to receive the same treatment as Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan was accepted, and the life ban ordered by the BCCI on 18.01.2016 was reduced to seven years.
Justice, A Muhamed Mustaque, declared in his judgment that there was no proof linking Sreesanth to the spot-fixing scandal. The court emphasized that the committee had based their conclusion entirely on circumstantial evidence.
The committee found no evidence that the cricketer had consented to spot-fixing; the only thing that could be argued against him was his awareness of betting. It was shown that betting rings and other organized criminals had infiltrated the sport. The court made its ruling on a writ launched by Sreesanth against the BCCI’s disciplinary decision. In 2015, a Delhi court proclaimed Sreesanth innocent of all accusations; nevertheless, the BCCI imposed a lifelong prohibition on him.
