Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was handed a five-year ban by the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Friday over his involvement in an illegal betting scandal that blighted the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Controversy plagued the sixth edition of the lucrative Twenty20 league with former India paceman S. Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan cricketers arrested on suspicion of accepting money to concede a fixed number of runs.
All three were given life bans by the BCCI.
The Chennai and Rajasthan franchises were subsequently suspended from the IPL for two years after key officials from both teams were found guilty of illegal betting.
The investigating Mumbai Police also named Rauf in the chargesheet but the umpire’s lawyer said his client had done nothing wrong.
The 59-year-old, who last officiated an international match in the 2013, did not appear before the BCCI disciplinary committee and sent a written statement instead, the board added.
The panel found the umpire guilty of facilitating betting, disclosing inside information and receiving gift or payment that brought the game into disrepute.
He asked that what authority does the BCCI and IPL have to stop him from officiating in cricket matches when the court stated that there no evidences against him.
“The BCCI and IPL appointed an investigation commissioner and they claimed I fled from India without completing my IPL assignment which is not true. I completed all my assignments and left India in fact one day after my assignments ended”, Rauf said.
“The court said Rauf earns more than Rs3 million a month so accepting small gifts like jeans, t-shirts or caps is not a big issue. The BCCI and IPL appointed commissioner Ravi Sawani didn’t even bother to check when I left India and made accusations against me to the police”, he added.
