New Delhi: The owners of several Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises courted trouble in the past for hosting yacht parties and lavish dinners for their players and staff. In an attempt to make cricket free from scandals and controversies, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had reiterated last year that they have a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption.
According to a report published in the Indian Express, in an email from ACSU chief Ravi Sawani, it had been made clear that such parties violated the operational rules and the Anti-Corruption Code.
The email had mentioned several instances from 2014 where a yacht party was hosted by Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta, a dinner by Shah Rukh Khan's friend for the entire KKR Team where other friends and relatives of the host and the actor were also present. Both the instances were nothing but breaching the protocol.
One of the most frequent complaints made by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has been women staying over at the players hotel rooms. The report has mentioned an incident where a Chennai Super Kings player had a late night visitor who stayed until daybreak the next day. When questioned, the player stated that she was a very close friend and that he was going to "marry her."
Later, ACU revealed that the same woman has been in touch with the banned player Sreesanth and a few other senior players of different IPL teams.
According to the BCCI's ACU protocol, "rooms cannot be shared with anyone other than wives, blood relations and partners that have been declared in advance." No visitors are allowed to the players rooms without prior permission of the team manager.
The BCCI has now adopted a strict approach after the spot-fixing scandal hit the IPL in 2013.
IPL 2013 was marred with a major controversy when Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were booked under sections 420 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code and charged with cheating.
Courtesy-ZEE