Kundra ready to give up Royals stake till cleared

Raj Kundra, one of the co-owners of Rajasthan Royals, has said that he will hand over his stake in the franchise to the Supreme Court of India or anyone it appoints till the allegations levelled against him by the Mudgal Committee are cleared. Saying that the Mudgal report had "flaws", Kundra said in an affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on Friday that the investigation panel's conclusions were "unclear and definitely adverse".

In February, when the Mudgal committee had published its initial findings, Kundra had "categorically answered in the negative" when asked about whether he had engaged in any betting activities during the 2013 IPL. In June the BCCI suspended Kundra from participating in any cricket-related activity pending the court investigations.

On Friday, Kundra's affidavit reiterated that "all aspersions cast on his actions in his personal capacity were completely false".

Reacting to the BCCI's action, Kundra had said he would transfer "ownership" of his shareholding in Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (the parent company of Royals), until such time that he was given a clean chit. "Applicant, being a man of his words, hereby agrees to transfer his ownership in the shares of Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited in the custody of this Hon'ble Court or to such person, as may be appointed by the Hon'ble Court," the affidavit said.

"He agrees that in such a scenario, he will receive back the shares, or any benefit thereof, only in case he is cleared of all of the present allegations. However, the Applicant clarifies that the above mentioned act is without prejudice and should in no manner be considered as an admission of guilt or as an acceptance of the Said Report. The Said Report has inherent flaws and the Applicant would crave leave to oppose the same by filing a comprehensive reply after receipt of all relevant information, as sought herein."

Kundra said the Mudgal report could not only severely hurt his relationship with the Royals management but also cause "damage to his reputation in society and casts aspersions on his integrity".

The final Mudgal report, released this Monday, said Kundra "was in touch with the bookies" but, by not reporting contact with them, "has violated the BCCI/ IPL Anti-Corruption Code". During the investigation, the Mudgal committee also found that the "investigation against this individual was abruptly and without reason stopped by the Rajasthan Police upon receiving the case papers from Delhi Police".

Kundra said although the court had asked him to submit his observations or objections, he first wanted to get the materials on which the conclusions are based (presumably collected by the investigating team) or the discussions/analysis thereof by the investigating team or the Mudgal Committee (on which the final conclusions recorded by the Mudgal committee would presumably be based). "In the absence of the aforesaid materials and discussions/analysis, the Applicant is unable to effectively and fully exercise his right to defend himself by inter alia pointing out the errors and anomalies in the material collected by the investigating team or understanding/analysis thereof by the investigating team or the Mudgal Committee."