Calcutta: Mumbai Ranji cricketer Hiken Shah has been found guilty of making a "corrupt approach" to a fellow player during the IPL and was on Monday suspended by the BCCI with immediate effect.
Shah was found guilty of breaching the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Code for participants and the matter was referred to its disciplinary committee for further action.
"BCCI would wish to inform that Mumbai cricketer, Hiken Shah, has been suspended with immediate effect. He was found guilty of breaching BCCI's Anti-Corruption Code for participants," the BCCI said in a statement issued by its secretary Anurag Thakur.
"His involvement in any form of cricket, affiliated with the BCCI stands suspended till the time the disciplinary committee of the BCCI passes appropriate orders," it added.
This comes a day before the Justice Lodha committee announces the quantum of punishment for Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and the franchises they were part of - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals respectively - for their involvement in the IPL 2013 corruption scandal.
The 30-year-old batsman, who is not part of any IPL team, has played 37 first-class matches for Mumbai and has 2,160 runs at an average of 42.35.
"Hiken Shah made a corrupt approach to one of his colleagues from first-class cricket, who is also a member of one of the IPL teams. The approached player immediately informed the incident to his franchise team. The franchise team followed the process of informing the incident to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the BCCI," the release stated.
"Based on the information, BCCI president, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, instructed ACU to conduct an immediate inquiry into the matter. After a detailed inquiry into the reported incident, the inquiry commissioner found Hiken Shah guilty of committing breach of Articles 2.1.1; 2.1.2; and 2.1.4 of the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code for participants and recommended their provisions to the BCCI president," the Board stated.
The news of a player being approached had come to light before the start of this year's IPL. The BCCI had confirmed the incident but had not disclosed any names at that time.
[As for the cricketer himself, he is "shocked" after the BCCI found him guilty of making a "corrupt approach". Hiken claimed that he had approached Pravin Tambe for a "coaching thing", according to PTI report.
"I am shocked. I have not been involved in any irregular activity. I have replied to the BCCI and there is nothing more that I want to say," said Hiken, who is in England at present, playing in the Lancashire league.]
Expressing shock Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) joint secretary Dr PV Shetty said: “We are very much shocked that yet another of our players (after Ankit Chavan in 2013) has allegedly done this. We shall take corrective measures by counselling our players on the dangers of these things. It’s very sad.”
