Cricketer S Sreesanth was on Wednesday questioned by the Supreme Court after he challenged a decision by Kerala High Court to restore the life-ban on him imposed by the BCCI.
Terming his conduct as ‘not good,’ the apex court on Wednesday heard the case after Sreesanth challenged the decision of a division bench of the Kerala High Court which restored the ban imposed on him. Earlier in 2015, the pacer was discharged by a trial court in the case related to the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal but the ban was later restored by a Kerala court.
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Sreesanth, stated that there is no valid proof that the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab was fixed and that there was no proof about Sreesanth receiving any money for the alleged role in the fixing scandal. After the lawyer presented some telephonic recordings of alleged bookies, the court asked the pacer’s lawyer about the cricketer’s conduct during the time preseding the whole episode.
“Why didn’t you (Sreesanth) bring it immediately to the notice of the board (BCCI)?,” the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and KM Joseph questioned Sreesanth’s lawyer. ” All this indicates that the conduct of S Sreesanth was not good. There is no doubt about this,” the bench further stated.
Sreesanth had challenged the decision of the Kerala High Court which restored the ban on him after terming the decision as a harsh one. He also claimed that there was no evidence that he indulged in any illegality. His lawyer Khurshid, defending him said that even if the cricketer failed to inform the board about the fixing approach, the maximum ban that could be imposed on him was five years.
“At the worst, it could be said that I (Sreesanth) had the knowledge that somebody was trying to do fixing and I should have brought it to the notice of the authorities. If that is the case, the total ban could be up to five years,” he said, as quoted by PTI.
Sreesanth also begged the Supreme Court to allow him to at least play outside the country as he has been receiving offers to play. He also stated that there was no proof that the alleged payment of Rs 10 lakh was made to the discarded pacer to fix the particular match under the scanner.
“My (Sreesanth’s) desire is to get back, my honour. Ultimately, I am wasting my professional career. At least, let me play outside India. Every year, I am getting offers to play. I have been given a life-ban for an offence which is not at all established,” Khurshid told the court on Sreesanth’s behalf.
Sreesanth had earlier told the apex court that he had offers to play in the English county and that the ban imposed on him was too harsh. However, there seems no relief for him anytime soon as the court has kept February 20 as the date for the next hearing in the case. Sreesanth along with cricketers Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by the Delhi Police in 2013 in the alleged spot-fixing case pertaining to the Indian Premier League.
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