BCCI President Anurag Thakur could come under massive fire now on account of a possible perjury charge that the Supreme Court has accused him of. This transpired during the crucial Supreme Court hearing on Thursday over the BCCI vs Lodha saga.
The order in full, however, has been reserved by the apex court on the day and the hearing will only resume after the Supreme Court opens post winter break in 2017.
The court remarked that Thakur, who replaced Shashank Manohar as the BCCI president earlier this year, allegedly committed the crime when he sought a letter from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that stated that the Lodha Committee recommendations equalled to that of government interference in the ongoing operations of the BCCI.
According to amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam, that step amounted to outside interference and Thakur has also allegedly tried his best to put a halt on the cricket reforms, as recommended by the Lodha Committee.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the court also didn't give a green signal to the Lodha Committee over its request of appointing GK Pillai as a BCCI observer. The Supreme Court instead asked the BCCI to suggest a name for the post of administrator within a week.
With the Supreme Court reopening on January 2, it is very likely that the bombastic judgement from the court over whether Anurag Thakur and the rest of the BCCI top brass could get dismissed, could come just ahead of CJI Thakur's retirement.
What is perjury
The Indian Penal Code (IPC) under Section 191 defines perjury as giving false evidence and by interpretation it includes the statements retracted later as the person is presumed to have given a false statement earlier or later, when the statement is retracted.
Under section 191 of IPC, an affidavit is evidence and a person swearing to a false affidavit is guilty of perjury punishable under Section 193 IPC.
What is the punishment
Seven years imprisonment.
