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[ruchir]

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, Sreesanth, Sudhir Nanavati and Harbhajan Singh make their way through the flood of presspersons, Ahmedabad, May 9, 2008

[poondu]

Investigation over, Nanavati to submit report on Monday

In the dock for slapping his India teammate S Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh on Friday appeared for another disciplinary hearing before the BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati who said the probe is over and he will submit his final report on on Monday.

"All the proceeding of the investigation is over and now I don't need to talk to any player or official in this case. I'm satisfied with the answers of both Sreesanth and Harbhajan. I've all the evidence that I need to prepare the report," Nanavati told reporters after the hearing.

He said both the players were very supportive and co-operating during the proceeding.

"I talked to Harbhajan for one hour and 15 minutes and 30 minutes with Sreesanth. They were quite friendly during the hearing," the advocate said.

Mumbai Indians' stand-in skipper Harbhajan slapped Kings XI Punjab pacer Sreesanth after the April 25 IPL match in Mohali, which saw the off-spinner being banned from the remainder of the IPL, apart from losing nearly Rs 3 crore of match fee.

BCCI slapped him a showcause notice for his behaviour before appointing Nanavati to probe the incident.

The hearing took place at the Gujarat Law Society building where Nanavati arrived at around 1400 hrs, followed by BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah. The hearing started at 1430 hrs after Harbhajan arrived, while Sreesanth came to the place around 1530 hrs.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=ab86f40b-6150-4698-ab6e-882936c53d69IPL2008_Special&&IsCricket=true&Headline=Hearing+over%2c+Nanavati's+report+on+Monday

[justforkix]

BCCI slapped him a showcause notice for his behaviour before appointing Nanavati to probe the incident.

A slap for a slap 

[poondu]

http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/11/stories/2008051159881900.htm


Nanavati to submit his report on Tuesday

AHMEDABAD: The BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, probing the slapping incident involving S. Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh, made it clear that it was not his mandate to recommend punishment to the guilty in his report which he will now submit on Tuesday.

“I will not recommend any sort of punishment to the players as I have been appointed to inquire about the incident under rule 32 of the BCCI,” Nanavati said.

“I will have to submit my report on the incident to the Board President and he will forward it to the disciplinary committee which will decide on the quantum of punishment to be given to the person who is found guilty,” he said, adding that “it is up to them. They can even let off a person.

“Earlier, I was going to submit my report on Monday, but now I have decided to do it on Tuesday,” Nanavati added.

“The change of date is due to the busy schedule on Monday. I have to appear for some cases in the Gujarat High Court,” Nanavati said.

Asked about the punishment, Nanavati said, “This is a Level 4 offence and if a player is found guilty the quantum of sentence is a ban on playing a large number of matches, or even for a lifetime,” he said. — PTI

Our Special Correspondent adds from Jaipur:

Though Nanavati is scheduled to submit his report on Tuesday, the meeting of the disciplinary committee may not take place for 10 days, according to the BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah.

Another BCCI official said that the disciplinary committee, comprising BCCI President Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar (President-elect, BCCI) and Chirayu Amin, Vice-President, BCCI, would not make a compromise while dealing with the issue.

[poondu]

http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/News/News/BCCI_may_ban_Bhajji_for_a_year/articleshow/3026158.cms

BCCI may ban Bhajji for a year
Rajeev Deshpande, Ajit Bezbaruah & Indranil Basu,TNN
 

NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: The BCCI is angry over Harbhajan Singh's onfield indiscretion and board sources said that the Nanavati probe is expected to settle whether Bhajji had been provoked by Sreesanth. At the hearing on Friday, Singh did not deny slapping Sreesanth but said that he had been needled. The spinner apologized and when asked how he could have hit a team-mate said it would never happen again.

"It is Nanavati's report that will decide his fate. It really doesn't matter if he was provoked or not. What he did was wrong and deserves punishment," said a top BCCI official.

While there is a view that Bhajji had been delivered a sufficiently hard rap on the knuckles, officials said that it would not be easy to ignore physical assault. If Nanavati fails to find any ameliorating circumstance, BCCI chief Sharad Pawar will have to take a final view.

It is clear that the loss of IPL fees does not mean that BCCI cannot impose a punishment. The setting up of an inquiry makes that evident and apprehending trouble, Harbhajan has been pleading that he should be given one more chance. He has told BCCI officials that losing "a couple of crores" was punishment enough. "How much more do you want to punish me" is apparently what he is asking?

The spinner is not completely isolated though. Sachin Tendulkar is still weighing in for him as he did when Singh was in the middle of a row over charges of racist abuse in Australia.

While having Sachin as a guardian angel will help Harbhajan, BCCI sources point out that the spinner has triggered a controversy too soon after his problems in Australia. Though the spinner had not been completely blameless in his showdown with Aussie powerhouse Andrew Symonds, BCCI used its clout once the team rallied around Singh.

The board hardly anticipated that Bhajji would fly off the handle with his own team-mate. Not only has the incident knocked a hole in the argument that the temperamental spinner had been cleverly "set up" by the Aussies, ICC was also watching how the board would handle the episode. The international body expects BCCI would respond firmly to what it sees as a gross act of indiscipline.

Nanavati, speaking after the hearings, maintained that whatever he saw on the video footage was indeed shocking. "So it was important to hear the two persons involved in the incident to get to the bottom of the truth," he said.