Chennai/New Delhi: Even after being ousted from the BCCI, controversies surrounding N. Srinivasan simply refuse to die down. Close on the heels of Chennai Super Kings’ under-valuation issue that rocked Sunday’s BCCI’s working committee meeting in Kolkata, fresh trouble might be brewing for the ICC chairman.
Reports suggest the Tamil Nadu strongman had allegedly paid Rs 14 crore of BCCI money to a London-based private agency to spy on other BCCI members, tapping their phones and tracking their emails in the process. The BCCI is expected to launch an official inquiry into this, with its secretary Anurag Thakur at the helm.
In fact, Mr Srinivasan’s bete noire Lalit Modi, the former IPL commissioner, had revealed this cricketing version of “Snoopgate” as far back as February last year, when retired Delhi High Court judge Mukul Mudgal was in London to investigate corruption in IPL-6. “In what seems to be a sophisticated surveillance covert operation, day-to-day activities of Mudgal were tracked while he is visiting London. The same surveillance agency has also been involved with physical surveillance of Lalit Modi, who apparently is a secondary target,” Mr Modi had written in a blog on his website.
The surveillance activities, according to Mr Modi, were aimed at finding out the identities of the individuals who were interviewed by Mr Mudgal before he submitted his IPL probe report to the Supreme Court. “A London agency was hired by a known source and armed with sophisticated surveillance tools, along with six teams distributed across three Audi cars and several bikes, to covertly record the movements of retired Justice Mudgal and Modi,” it read.
Mr Modi’s security company claims to have more details of the surveillance operatives. “These operations cost crores of rupees and is a total invasion of privacy and civil liberties of an individual,” Mr Modi had said. On Sunday, minutes after the "Snoopgate" story broke, According to its website,
Team Fusion comprises mostly of ex-military personnel who "combine the military ethos of the highest professional standards with an understanding of the realities of commercial security work - They are supplemented by ex-police officers experienced in major criminal investigations and crisis management.”
- Lalit Modi alleged London-based security firm Team Fusion was hired to spy on officials.
- Team Fusion website says it comprises ex-military personnel
- They are supplemented by ex-cops experienced in criminal probes and crisis management
