The Lodha panel, which was appointed by the Supreme Court of
India, suspended the owners of IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan
Royals for a period of two years in connection with the betting and spot-fixing
scandals in the IPL. This follows the IPL rules that state that a franchisee
can be punished if the team owners are found guilty of betting or betting
related activities. Both of the teams were banned in regards to betting
activities of their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra during the
6th edition of i.e. 2013 season of IPL. This decision has put a spanner on the
high-profile T20 league, which had begun in 2008. In January 2015, the
Committee in its terms of reference being to announce the quantum of punishment
against Meiyappan, Kundra and the two franchisees CSK and Rajasthan Royals.
Background The IPL spot-fixing scandal had broken out in
2013 after the Delhi Police arrested Rajasthan Royals cricketers S Sreesanth,
Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila. They were allegedly for indulging in betting
and spot-fixing during then 6th edition of IPL. Later Supreme Court had
constituted Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha to look
into this matter.
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