BCCI Ombudsman serves 'conflict of interest' notices to Sachin Tendhulkar and VVS Laxman

The incident happened over a week after Sourav Ganguly was served a similar “conflict of interest” notice by BCCI after three Bengal-based cricket fans – Bhaswati Shantua, Abhijeet Mukherjee and Ranjit Seal – had alleged the same against the former skipper, who took up the Delhi Capitals’ mentor role despite being the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal.

This time, the complaint was raised by Sanjeev Gupta, a member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), alleging dual role for the duo, who has been members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that had picked Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the national team in 2017.

Justice Jain wrote in the notice, “A complaint has been received by the Ethics Officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (for short "the BCCI") under Article 39 of the Rules and Regulations of the BCCI, regarding certain acts, allegedly constituting as 'conflict of interest' on your part.

"You may file your written response to the accompanying Complaint, supported by duly executed affidavit, on or before 28th April 2019, with the Office of the Ethics Officer, BCCI, Mumbai for further proceedings in the matter," he further stated.

However, it has also been learnt that Tendulkar has no financial contract with Mumbai Indians, just like Ganguly, and moreover, the trio has voluntarily been a part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). Another source has informed PTI that this move was a mere consequence of Ganguly being served notice first.

"Since Ganguly was issued notice, the Ombudsman probably issued the notices to both Tendulkar and Laxman also. But I can confirm that Tendulkar doesn't take a single penny from Mumbai Indians. He is just doing voluntary service. Also in BCCI, he never got paid for his services as CAC," said a senior BCCI official privy to development, reported PTI.

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