Defiant BCCI chief rejects calls to quit

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India's cricket chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan has refused to step down despite his connections to the Indian Premier League corruption scandal.

The Chennai Super Kings, the most successful club in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), are set to take on the Mumbai Indians in this season's final on Sunday but will do so with a cloud hanging over their heads.

Gurunath Meiyappan, who has been described as everything from Chennai's CEO to just an honorary member of the team's management, has been detained on charges of cheating, forgery and fraud in relation to an IPL-wide corruption investigation.

Srinivasan, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is Gurunath's father-in-law and, as the head of India's cricket governing body, would need to be part of a disciplinary panel to hear a case against his son-in-law.

But despite that conflict of interest, as well as the fact Srinivasan owns India Cements, the majority owner of the Super Kings, the 68-year-old BCCI president has rejected calls for his resignation.

"I am sorry. I cannot be bulldozed and I will not allow the press or the others to railroad me," Srinivasan told NDTV.

"I have done nothing wrong."

While Srinivasan claimed Gurunath will be treated 'objectively and fairly', he also distanced himself from the Super Kings, claiming he has little to do with the IPL.

"I had no knowledge (of Gurunath's alleged activities)," Srinivasan said.

"Everybody knows I hardly visit, I hardly watch a game.

"In fact, I do not go to the (Chennai Super Kings') games, I hardly watch the Twenty20.

"All I can say is that I had no knowledge of anything, which also people will understand because I never went to the games."

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