Internet Desk: Sacked BCCI president Anurag Thakur alleged to Supreme Court that a part of his affidavit which was filed to the apex court on October 15, 2016 was dictated by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Shashank Manohar. Earlier Supreme Court sacked Anurag as he was delaying the process of implementation of the Lodha panel reforms which were approved by the court. Thakur added all this started from an ICC meeting which was held in South Africa.
“During my visit to Cape Town, South Africa, on October 12, 2016 for an ICC meeting, I brought the order of the SC to the notice of ICC chairman Shashank Manohar and showed Manohar the points and basis on which I was going to depose in the affidavit before the SC with a view to ensure that the discussion that had taken place was accurately placed on record before the court,” said Thakur, .
“Thereafter, Manohar personally dictated a portion of my affidavit. The dictation was taken down by my executive assistant Krishna Pophale in my presence. At the end of this dictation, Manohar had also remarked that it was natural for me to ask him for a clarification as I was not a lawyer and did not understand the nitty gritties of the issue. Accordingly, para 3 and 4 of my affidavit dated October 15, 2016 filed before the Supreme Court are based on the dictation of Manohar,” he added.
Thakur also stated the the portions dictated by Manohar were agred by ICC CEO Dave Richardson, who was kept in the loop as well. “After conclusion of the dictation of Manohar, I forwarded the dictated paragraph to David Richardson from my email account on October 14, 2016 with a request to confirm [correctness of] the contents,” said Thakur.
“David Richardson by way of email dated October 14, 2016 confirmed the facts and events which took place as mentioned in my email to him. Based on the contents of the email sent by me, it was told to the SC that I had tried to mislead the court and had committed perjury and contempt,” he added. “At no point of time did the deponent ever seek out any other letter from the chairman of ICC other than the letter clarifying the position which Manohar had taken as BCCI president as has already been stated in the October 15 affidavit,” he added.