Mumbai, May 25 (ANI): Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and India Cements owner N.Srinivasan has arrived in Mumbai to meet with his arrested son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan at around 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.
According to television reports,Srinivasan's arrival in the city coincided with Meiyappan being produced before a local court well ahead of the earlier deadline of 3p.m. announced by the Mumbai Crime Branch officials.
The latter also confirmed that Srinivasan had got in touch with their seniors on Saturday morning to seek permission to meet Meiyappan, who was arrested late on Friday night after police said that they had substantial evidence of his role in betting and spot fixing in the ongoing sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Srinivasan had earlier in the day left his summer holiday home in Kodaikanal for Mumbai, where he is also likely to meet senior officials of the BCCI to decide on the next course of action.
Speculation is also rife that Srinivasan may be asked to step down from his post of president, pending completion of investigations into the the IPL spot fixing scam.
The arrest of his son-in-law Meiyappan has given rise to the demands for his resignation from the post of BCCI president.
Late on Friday night, Srinivasan said he will not resign from his post in the wake of his son-in-law's arrest by the crime branch of the Mumbai police for his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting-spot fixing scandal.
In an interview given to the CNN-IBN television channel, Srinivassan said he had no intention of resigning. He was also quoted by the NDTV channel, as saying that Meiyappan's arrest was an attempt to target him through his son-in-law, and therefore, there was no question of him resigning.
The demand for Srinivasan's resignation is getting louder after Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings chief executive, was interrogated by crime branch officers of the Mumbai police and later arrested on Friday night.
Chennai Super Kings owner India Cements sought to distance itself from Meiyappan, saying he was just an honorary member of the management committee.
Small time Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh's call records showed that he was in constant touch with the BCCI president's son-in-law. Vindu was often seen sitting in VIP boxes, as an invitee of Meiyappan, during Super Kings matches in the IPL.
Meiyappan, who was untraceable for the past two days, was spotted at Srinivasan's farmhouse in Kodaikanal, some 500 km from Chennai. He left for Mumbai by a chartered flight from Madurai and was met there by the Crime Branch officials, who whisked him away to their south Mumbai office for questioning.
Questioned for over three hours, Meiyappan was confronted with the evidence against him and arrested around midnight.
Srinivasan remained in the line of fire with Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and former International Cricket Council (ICC) and BCCI president Sharad Pawar's party Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) calling for his resignation as BCCI chief on moral grounds, though later the party seemed to distance itself from the demand made by a party spokesman.
Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) said Srinivasan, who was aspiring to be the next ICC president, was likely to step down if Mumbai police arrested Meiyappan, who has been accused of having links with bookies.
Among other developments on Friday, a court granted Mumbai police custody of Vindu till May 28 besides of two others - hawala operator Alpesh Taneja and a bookie, Prem Taneja. (ANI)
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