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BCCI bans 5 players for spot-fixing in IPL 

MUMBAI: Cracking the whip on cricketers caught in a IPL spot-fixing scandal, the BCCI on Saturday imposed a life ban on pacer TP Sudhindra but handed lighter punishments to four other domestic players who were also exposed in the TV sting operation. 

The decision to ban the players for varying degrees was taken by the BCCI's disciplinary committee, headed by its president N Srinivasan, which met to discuss the report submitted by Ravi Sawani on the matter. 

While the 28-year-old Sudhindra was the worst hit as his career seems all but over, Shalabh Srivastav was banned for five years. Mohnish Mishra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali were banned for a year each, according to BCCI sources. 

The television sting operation had claimed that they agreed to shadowy deals in the Indian Premier League and other matches. 

Three of the five players — Sudhindra, Mishra and Bali — attended the meeting on Saturday to present their points of view before the panel whose other members are Board vice-presidents Arun Jaitely and Niranjan Shah. 

Five uncapped Indian cricketers were alleged to have been caught indulging in corrupt practices, including spot-fixing, by a TV channel which conducted a sting operation during this year's IPL. 

BCCI had asked its anti-corruption unit chief Ravi Sawani to conduct a probe in the matter and he submitted his report to Srinivasan a few weeks back. 

The five players were suspended with immediate effect after the sting operation was aired. 

Television channel India TV had claimed to have blown the lid off "murky deals" in the IPL among players, organisers, owners and big guns of Indian cricket. 

According to the channel, its operation revealed that spot-fixing is not only prevalent in IPL but also that first class matches are fixed and women played an important role in match-fixing. 

Four of the five players suspended had previously played in the rebel Indian Cricket League. 

Medium pacer Sudhindra, who had played for Delhi Giants in the ICL, helped Madhya Pradesh gain promotion to Ranji Trophy's Elite Division in the 2010-11 season. 

He surprised everyone in his first season in the big league, ending the 2011-12 season as its highest wicket-taker and earning himself a contract with the Deccan Chargers in the IPL. 

Madhya Pradesh middle-order batsman Mishra too played for the Delhi Giants in the rebel Indian Cricket League before gaining amnesty form the BCCI. Signed by Deccan Chargers in 2010, 28-year-old Mishra moved to the newly-formed Pune Warriors in 2011. 

Uttar Pradesh left-arm seamer Srivastava was India's highest wicket-taker at the victorious Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2000. After severing ties with ICL team Delhi Giants, Srivastava was signed up by Kings XI Punjab in 2011. 

The 22-year-old Yadav, an all-rounder, bats right-handed and bowls off-spin for Goa. He has played 14 first-class matches, scoring three half centuries and taking 41 wickets at 23.75. Yadav was on Kings XI Punjab's roster but hasn't made his IPL debut yet. — PTI

BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Saturday said he will not accept the resignations of eight ministers who had put in their papers demanding that he be replaced by Jagadish Shettar, a BS Yeddyurappa loyalist. Sadananda Gowda met the state governor HR Bharadwaj and  apprised him of the political situation in the state.

They sent their resignations to Sadananda Gowda on Friday, who was on tour to several districts and had returned to Bangalore in the evening.

Two more ministers - Shobha Karandlaje and Raju Gowda of the Yeddyurappa camp - are expected to follow suit.

The BJP's national organising secretary, Satish, rushed to Bangalore and had a discussion with Sadananda Gowda.

Sources said Satish had conveyed the high command's message to the chief minister that he should take his own decisions and had the leadership's support.

Karnataka BJP president KS Eshwarappa said the chief minister should accept the resignations.

The ministers who quit are chief minister aspirant Jagadish Shettar, Basawaraj Bommai, V Somanna, Renukacharya, CM Udasi, Murugesh NIrani, Umesh Katti and Revu Nayak Belamagi.

All of them except Belamagi belong to the powerful Lingayat community, whose central political face is Yeddyurappa.

Guwahati: Torrential rains for one week have led to flash floods in Assam's capital in what may be easily described as the worst floods the state has witnessed in eight years. Almost 23 of its 27 districts are under water. Nearly four lakh people in 2,000 villages are said to be affected and 40,000 hectares of crop land is believed to be destroyed. 

The Brahmaputra and its tributaries breached their embankments at several places leading to the worst floods the state has witnessed in eight years. 

Rescue operations are being carried out by the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the state government, and yet, nothing substantial has been achieved so far. 

Angry villagers are, meanwhile, desperately moving to higher grounds and struggling to survive in makeshift camps. Around 173 temporary shelters have been set up across the state. 

A flood affected villager of Udiana, Mohammed Sabir Ali, said, "I am stuck, how will I survive? I've been forced to move to the railway tracks with my children." 

Sahida Begum, another villager of Udiana, said, "I've seen these floods since 2001. There is no water, no food, for me and my kids." 

It is a cycle of helplessness and damage that seems to have become a yearly ritual. The battle is difficult for the rescue workers too, as they try their best to pull out the marooned villagers.

P Horo, Assistant Commandant, NDRF, said, "The villagers are stuck inside. The wate

 

Ahmedabad: A special court here on Saturday reserved its verdict in the Naroda Patiya communal riots case wherein 97 Muslims were slaughtered by a mob led among others by a former minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Additional Principal Judge Jyotsna Yagnik said the verdict would now be announced on August 29.

The judge had earlier completed the hearing last month and reserved the judgement for today. The 61 accused in the case include former minister in Narendra Modi government and Naroda MLA Maya Kodnani, ex-VHP leader Babu Bajrangi, local BJP leaders Bipin Panchal, Kishan Korani, Ashok Sindhi and Raju Chaumal.

The incident had occurred on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning incident, during a bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). A mob carrying lethal weapons led by Kodnani and others had gathered at Naroda Patiya in the city and killed 97 persons. 33 others were wounded in one of the most brutal post-Godhra riots.

The trial began in August 2009 and charges were framed against 62 accused. However, one of them -- Vijay Shetty, died during the trial.