Nowhere in the world has such an offence resulted in life ban, still loyal to BCCI, Sreesanth to Supreme Court

The final arguments in the appeal filed by former Indian Cricketer S Sreesanth challenging the life ban imposed on him by BCCI commenced today in Supreme Court..The hearing is happening before the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and KM Joseph..Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid is appearing for Sreesanth. The main thrust of Khurshid’s arguments was that there is no direct evidence to implicate Sreesanth and the evidence provided by the prosecution is only circumstantial evidence..Circumstantial evidence is good only if the incident alleged actually took place. It cannot be used to establish something which has not happened. In this case, the allegation was that Sreesanth took money to give away 14 runs in an over but he only conceded 13 runs in that over. Thus, the alleged incident did not happen. Hence, circumstantial evidence will not be good enough to make out a case against Sreesanth..Regarding the allegation that Sreesanth actually conceded 14 runs but one no-ball which he bowled went unnoticed by the umpire, Khurshid submitted that there is absolutely no evidence regarding the same..Regarding the circumstantial evidence, Khurshid said that the two phone calls relied upon by the prosecution are crucial..One phone call was between Sreesanth and his friend Jiju on how to utilise Rs. 10 lakh. But there is nothing in that conversation which indicates that Rs. 10 lakh was tainted money, said Khurshid..The second phone call was between Jiju and a bookie. In that phone call, Jiju states that the petitioner is stubborn and not willing..Thus, fixing did not happen, submitted Khurshid..“What about effort to fix?”, the Bench quizzed Khurshid..“Evidence has to be very cogent and strong to prove an effort to fix particularly since the alleged incident did not happen”, responded Khurshid..Khurshid then placed extensive reliance on the judgment of the single judge Bench of Kerala High Court which had acquitted Sreesanth and quashed the lifetime ban..“If at all he is guilty of anything, it is for failure to disclose about fixing etc despite having knowledge. That will make him guilty only of the least punishable offence. There is nothing on record to warrant a lifetime ban”, Khurshid told the Court..Importantly, Khurshid also attacked the judgment of the Division Bench of Kerala High Court which had reinstated the lifetime ban..It was his argument that the Division Bench agreed with the findings of the single judge, yet chose to reinstate life ban. This he argued could not be done..“Once Division Bench agrees with the single judge, it has to go by the Rule when it comes to the imposition of punishment. .In this case, the findings of single judge have not been overruled by the Division Bench. Yet the Division Bench has gone ahead and imposed life ban”.Khurshid also pointed out that no cricketer has been given a life ban anywhere in the world for such an offence..“Mohd Azharuddin was given life ban but it was overturned. Pakistan’s Salim Malik got a life ban but it was overturned. Hansie Cronje was given life ban but he died in a plane crash when proceedings were not closed.”.Interestingly, Khurshid also told the Court that despite Sreesanth losing a critical part of his career due to the ban, he has remained steadfast in his loyalty to BCCI..“He hopes to go back and reconnect with BCCI”, submitted Khurshid before concluding his submissions..The BCCI will make its submissions tomorrow..The life ban on playing cricket had been imposed on Sreesanth by the BCCI in view of his alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the 2013 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket. All 36 accused in the scandal were discharged from the case by the Patiala House Court in July 2015..All the same, the BCCI declined to reverse its disciplinary order against Sreesanth, which it asserts had been passed on the basis of evidence..Thereafter, in August last year, a single judge of the Kerala High Court lifted the life ban and set aside all proceedings by the BCCI. However, on appeal, a Division Bench of the High Court restored the BCCI ban leading to the current appeal in Supreme Court..Read the order below.