The BCCI Ethics Officer Justice (Retd) Vineet Saran has "dismissed" the 'Conflict of Interest' case filed against BCCI president Roger Binny, stating that complainant Sanjeev Gupta's claims were devoid of any "merit".
Gupta in his complaint had said that Roger Binny’s daughter-in-law Mayanti Langer worked with Star Sports as an anchor which was akin to having a contract with the BCCI and thus is a Conflict of Interest.
Star Sports is the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League as well as the Indian national team's home games along with all ICC events.
Sanjeev Gupta, a former member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), is notorious for filing such complaints previously as well against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli to name a few.
In his 11-page, 20-point report, Justice Saran summarily rejected Gupta’s claims and also issued him a stern warning to not share complaint-related documents with "unrelated parties". Gupta has had a habit of mailing all his documents to hundreds of journalists, present and ex-BCCI officials.
Five franchises for inaugural Women’s IPL to be unveiled on January 25- Report
In the verdict uploaded on bcci.tv, Saran stated: "It is not the case of the complainant (Gupta) that Ms Langer is involved in sales, marketing, business or management of Star Sports. She is hosting live broadcasts and panels for Star Sports. The fact that media rights for BCCI and IPL were awarded to Star Sports on 5.4.2018 and 27.06.2022 is also not disputed.
Hence it cannot be said, as the President, the respondent (Binny) has influenced the engagement of his daughter-in-law in Star Sports. Ms Langer is not an employee of Star Sports and is only working on contract with Star Sports as an anchor.”
"In the absence of any instance of Conflict of Interest having been cited in her working in such capacity with Star Sports, it cannot be presumed that there will be any Conflict of Interest,” Justice Saran added.
He even categorically mentioned that a "mere relationship" (father-in-law and daughter-in-law) between respondent (Binny) and Langer would not be sufficient enough to establish an instance of Conflict of Interest.
Saran also issued a stern warning to Gupta so that he doesn't "voluntarily place complaints and other documents in the public domain and he should send the copies of same only to parties concerned".
(PTI inputs)
