Shashank Manohar pressed me to fight against N Srinivasan, says Aditya Verma
Aditya Verma, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the verdict in the IPL scandal which in turn led to the sacking of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, claims that he was pressured by Shashank Manohar. Verma has also accused current ICC chief of conspiring against Srinivasan.
The IPL scandal shocked the general public all over the world after claims of spot-fixing and match-fixing tainted the league’s reputation. The scandal led to the ousting of former ICC chairman N Srinivasan from his post as well as a ban on two franchises - The Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings, the latter was owned by Srinivasan himself.
Aditya Verma, who was then the secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar, was the man because of whom the whole scandal came to light in the first place. Verma’s petition in the Supreme Court led to the startling revelations regarding the IPL. And now, Verma claimed that he was pressured by current ICC chief Shashank Manohar to oppose N Srinivasan.
“It was Manohar who pressed me to fight against Srinivasan and in
“He got two benefits from my legal fight. He ousted Srinivasan from the BCCI and also snatched the ICC chairman post from him. I have never seen a more power hungry person than Manohar,” Verma said as he spoke to reporters.
Verma admitted that the move to side with Manohar and Anurag Thakur was ‘the biggest mistake of his life’ as he revealed he had deep respect for ousted chairman N Srinivasan.
“Thakur and Manohar did everything meticulously. When the IPL scam erupted, Manohar wanted a CBI enquiry in BCCI, but when he took over as the president for the second time after the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya he was quiet. As planned, he then handed over the chair to Thakur to take the ICC post,” Verma claimed.
The petitioner added that he did not intend to go head-to-head with Srinivasan as he reiterated that his battle was against a corrupt system and not an individual per se.
“I always had respect for Srinivasan and I will continue to respect him till my last breath. My fight has always been against the corrupt system. I don’t want to be a villain in the eyes of Srinivasan and that’s why I am revealing everything now,” said Verma.
“I have seen the way how various BCCI presidents functioned over the years and Srinivasan is the finest administrator of them all. He has done a lot for Indian cricket,” Verma said.