BCCI Ethics Officer Justice (Retd) Vineet Saran has “dismissed” the “Conflict of Interest” case brought against BCCI President Roger Binny, stating that plaintiff Sanjeev Gupta’s allegations lacked any “merit”. Gupta’s allegation in his complaint was that Mayanti Langer Binny, the daughter-in-law of the 1983 World Cup hero, who worked for Star Sports as a presenter, amounts to having a contract with the BCCI and is thus a conflict of interest.
Star Sports is the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League and the home matches of the Indian national team along with all ICC events.
Gupta, a former Apex Council member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), has filed complaints against who’s who of Indian cricket including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli to name but a few to name a few.
Judge Saran, in his 11-page, 20-point report, summarily dismissed Gupta’s complaint and also issued a stern warning not to share complaint-related documents with “unrelated parties.”
Gupta has had a habit of mailing all his documents to hundreds of journalists, current and former BCCI officials.
In the verdict uploaded on bcci.tv, Saran stated: “It is not the case of the complainant (Gupta) that Ms. Langer is involved in the sales, marketing, business or management of Star Sports.
“She hosts live broadcasts and panels for Star Sports. The fact that media rights for BCCI and IPL were awarded to Star Sports on 5.4.2018 and 27.06.2022 is also not disputed.
“Therefore, it cannot be said that the respondent (Binny) as president influenced his daughter-in-law’s involvement with Star Sports. Ms. Langer is not an employee of Star Sports and only works with Star Sports as an anchor on a contract basis.
“In the absence of any conflict of interest in her work in such a capacity with Star Sports, it cannot be assumed that there will be any conflict of interest.” In fact, Saran also categorically stated that a “mere relationship” (father-in-law and daughter-in-law) between respondent (Binny) and Langer would not be sufficient to establish a conflict of interest. Justice Saran also issued a “strong warning” to Gupta that he “does not voluntarily post complaints and other documents in the public domain and may only send copies thereof to the parties concerned.”
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