ONE OF the three proposals made by the Supreme Court on Thursday to tackle allegations of corruption in cricket was that anyone associated with BCCI chief N Srinivasan?s company India Cements should not be involved with the cricket board.
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Although the BCCI and India Cements are unrelated entities, a closer look shows many members are common to both bodies.
Srinivasan is the MD of India Cements which owns the IPL team Chennai Super Kings. IPL chief financial officer Prasanna Kannan works for India Cements and, last year, the Enforcement Directorate sent him a notice regarding alleged FEMA violations.
India and CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is vice-president of India Cements. The company also employs players such as Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Lakshmipathy Balaji and R Ashwin.
Several Tamil Nadu cricketers have also been employed by India Cements.
Former India captain Dravid has been employed with India Cements since 1994 and is currently mentor for Rajasthan Royals. Former cricketers V B Chandrasekhar and L Sivaramakrishnan, who are commentating in the Deodhar Trophy final, are also India Cements employees.
Srinivasan is also believed to have ensured that Sivaramakrishnan would be a part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a player representative. M A Satish, another India Cements employee, is the Indian cricket team?s logistics manager.
People close to Srinivasan are also involved with affairs of the cricket board.
P S Raman, a former Tamil Nadu public prosecutor, is a vice-president of TNCA. He is also Srinivasan?s lawyer and a legal consultant for TNCA and BCCI. TNCA honorary secretary K S Viswanathan is a close aide of Srinivasan and is also employed with India Cements. TNCA honorary secretary R I Palani is in the Indian board?s Zonal Academies Committee and is also an India Cements employee.
Former TN players T Karunamurthy, S Sharath, M Gopal and R Prasanna are all employed by the Chennai-based cement company and have been match referees in BCCI tournaments.