In what could come as a major relief to tainted Indian cricketer S Sreesanth, the Kerala High Court today sent a petition to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to lift the ban imposed by the cricketing body on the player over spot-fixing charges during the 2013 IPL.
The development comes a day after the cricketer moved the Kerala HC with a petition seeking the court’s direction to the BCCI to allow him to play for a Scottish club in April.
In his petition to the HC, Sreesanth had contended that even the trial court hearing the match-fixing case has observed in 2015 that "no prima facie case in any offence including Section 3 of MCOCA is made out against the accused persons and they are entitled to be discharged."
In September 2013, the BCCI’s disciplinary committee gave him a life ban from the sport, effectively ending his career. Exonerated by the trial court, it is only the BCCI life ban that is stopping him from resuming his cricket career.
All the 36 accused, including Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, were discharged in the IPL 6 spot-fixing case by Patiala House Court in July 2015.
The BCCI, however, had earlier refused to grant Sreesanth a No Objection Certificate for playing in Scotland. Sreesanth said he was invited by the Glenrothes Cricket Club, Fife Scotland for representing Gelnroth Team (Premier League in Scotland) to be held in the first week of April.
Sreesanth had earlier alleged that "the entire prosecution case framed out by
the Delhi Police Special Cell" against him was based on a "cooked-up story created according to their aspirations and imaginations..."
He had further contended that the decision by the BCCI panel probing his case had based their decision on the information provided by the Delhi Police.
