The Supreme Court today pulled up BCCI chairman in exile N Srinivasan for having conflict of interest as head of BCCI and as owner of IPL team, Chennai Super Kings. Raising questions on how Mr Srinivasan can own a team while being President of the cricketing board, it said IPL is a by-product of the BCCI and cannot be separated from it.

During a hearing on the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee report which probed into the IPL spot-fixing scandal, a bench comprising justices T S Thakur and F M I Kalifulla asked Mr Srinivasan to address the question of conflict of interest as his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, an official of the team, is found to be involved in betting. The bench said it will look into the conflict of interest issue as it is serious and cannot be wished away. The BCCI lawyers argued that there is no conflict of interest as Bombay High Court had dismissed the issue. Mr Srinivasan is seeking a nod from the Supreme Court to seek re-election as BCCI President. He was suspended as BCCI President by the Supreme Court pending investigations into corruption in IPL.

The Supreme Court had harsh words for Mr Srinivasan on the spot fixing scandal. The Court told him that if he allowed such things to happen, then he is killing the game of cricket. The apex Court observed that cricket must be played in its true spirit and should remain a gentleman's game. The Supreme Court added that it takes the findings of the Mudgal Committee's report on the spot fixing scandal as gospel truth.

Meanwhile, Suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi today said Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals should be cancelled from IPL. His comments came moments after Supreme Court questioned N Srinivasan. nMr Modi also made a startling revelation admitting that he is the man financing petitioner Aditya Verma against N Srinivasan and others in the IPL spot-fixing case. He told this to a Delhi-based private TV channel.