BCCI president N Srinivasan was doing what all political and corporate bigwigs of Tamil Nadu do in the month of May — bag and baggage, he had shifted to Kodaikanal to escape the blistering heat of Chennai. That’s when he got this call that was to turn his life upside down — he was told that Sreesanth and two others had been picked up for spot fixing. From just three “rotten apples” as he put it, to sleuths picking up his son-in-law for alleged links with bookies, it has been a recurring nightmare for the BCCI boss. Kumar Chellappan in Chennai tells you how cricket has always been as much a commercial product as cement for the dodgy businessman in Srinivasan and why he will never give up this power centre willingly

A trust which can’t be destroyed. That’s how the N Srinivasan-owned India Cements described their product in a recent ad campaign. The TV advertisements featured the one and only Pamban Bridge, connecting mainland India with Rameswaram over the Bay of Bengal, as proof of the power and strength of the cement sold by Srinivasan who is known more in the rest of India as president of the world’s strongest cricketing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

As events of the last month unfold, it has become clear that Srinivasan will have to work overtime to regain the lost trust and build a super structure twice the size of Pamban Bridge for him to cement his place in the game now.

But one look at the journey of India Cements and you would know why the tongues are wagging against Srinivasan. The story of India Cements is enmeshed in shadow boxing, controversies and ugly boardroom spats. “Behind every fortune, there is a great crime,” Balzac once said. It comes true in the case of India Cements. The company was launched by Tirunelveli-born friends SNN Sankaralinga Iyer and TS Narayanaswamy in 1949 and it had a modest growth till the early 90s.

That was when Narayanaswamy’s son Srinivasan joined the company and turned it into a never-before growth story. This happened through a web of astute business sense and a network of contacts which worked from all ends — political, economical and social.

Prime among Srinivasan’s contact was his close friend Thyagaraja Sundaram, aka Murasoli Maran, nephew of DMK patriarch Muthuvelar Karunanidhi. Since Karunanidhi’s children by his three wives, were not smart enough, Maran became his eyes and ears.

It is an open secret that Maran, with his sharp business acumen, managed all of Karunanidhi’s wealth. And his friendship with industrialist Srinivasan helped a lot. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Maran helped Srinivasan firm up ties with people in high places, especially in New Delhi, and the Karunanidhi clan flourished too with mind boggling speed.

India Cements, which sold hardly three million tonnes of cement a year in the 1990s, now sells more than 15 million tonnes a year. The company commands 30 per cent of the south Indian market share. Since the DMK was in power in New Delhi from 1996 to early 2013 (except for a brief period in 2008) as an ally of both the BJP and the Congress, there was no looking back for both groups.

While Maran was the political face of this arrangement, Srinivasan was — and continues to be — its financial face.

Down the years and through largely questionable means, the Srinivasan family ousted the family of Sankaralinga Iyer from the India Cements Board and took full control of the by now Rs5,000-crore enterprise.

As a personality, Srinivasan is one with a lot of flair. The BCCI boss is known for his passion for golf, his zen for luxury cars and his penchant to host the grandest and most stylish high-profile parties at his farmhouses.

When other industrialists from Tamil Nadu, like MA Chidambaram, MA Muthiah and the like, rose in cricket echelons and became BCCI bigwigs, Srinivasan saw an opportunity in the game too. As he once said, he too felt the urge to ‘do something for the game of cricket’.

Even his close friends admit that cricket was never Srinivasan’s first love. “There was never anything special about Srinivasan’s passion for the game. He realised that the BCCI and cricket were exclusive superhighways that could connect him to power. So, he took the plunge and there he is now”, a long-time friend of the BCCI boss tells you. Of course, he doesn’t want to be named just as yet.

After all, Srinivasan is known to not forgive in a hurry. For him, dissidence and opposition are anathema. He is happy being the monarch of all he surveys.

Another matter altogether that he never hesitates in pampering friends. His guest houses and farmhouses at Kodaikanal, Coonoor, Mahabalipuram and the exclusive East Coast Road have hosted many political and business leaders, in style which can put the likes of Adnan Khashoggi and Vijay Mallya in the shadows.

The sight of Srinivasan coming to meet Karunandhi at the latter’s Gopalapuram residence has often sent chuckles down the media fraternity. It is commonly known that it is at Srinivasan’s farmhouses that Karunanidhi, Maran and others would unwind and bring out the best in body and soul. The DMK boss penned many a story and poem while getting refreshed and recharged at these properties.

While the previous BCCI bosses confined themselves to traditional Test and One Day matches, and some domestic Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy circuits, Srinivasan saw the Indian Premier league as a hub of commercial opportunity. Though he was the BCCI president, he did not think twice in becoming an IPl franchisee with Chennai Super Kings under the India Cements stable.

Those who know Srinivasan also know that propriety holds a different meaning in his lexicon. The battery of lawyers on his payroll has studiously defended him for everything he has done so far, including the elan with which he has steadfastly brushed aside all talk of “clash of interest” in being BCCI boss and an IPl franchisee.

Srinivasan, a keen businessman, is known to consider cricket as much a commercial product as the cement he sells. “Gone are the good old days of classical cricket. How to make money on every second of the game is what has become of present-day cricket managers,” R Mohan, veteran cricket writer and Indian contributor to global cricket almanac Wisden’s Year Book says.

Mohan, however, insists that even though the IPl earned a bad reputation because of spot-fixing, it has done a lot for the game. “I could see Sanju, a young player from a village in Kerala, making it big with his performance in IPl even as Sreesanth was being led to Tihar Jail. Isn’t that an encouraging developmentIJ Not only Sanju, I see many youngsters knocking at the doors of the Indian team, thanks to the IPl,” Mohan says, adding that the “greed of certain people” should never be allowed to take control of the game.

It is not clear whether Srinivasan will be the BCCI boss by the time this appears in print, but his hold over the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is unwavered.

But fact also is that the game seems to be ending for the man who has had a passion for all good things in life — flashy SUVs, sleek sports cars, Savile Row and Armani suits and, of course, his preferred number 9001 (all cars he drives have this registration number).

A recent raid by the Income Tax department in Chennai resulted in the seizure of 30 high-end imported cars. It is said that 18 of these cars were from the India Cements garage.

Had Srinivasan stayed put as BCCI president and kept off CSK, none in the cricketing world would have questioned him. Most of his peers and business rivals are afraid of his street smartness and arrogance. Chennai journalists never ask questions which he deems uncomfortable.

To make the web more intricate — or, shall we say, dissent-proof — India Cements has most cricket greats and officials on its rolls. Team India captain MS Dhoni, for example, is a vice-president with the firm.

The India Cements corporate cricket team enjoys a solid reputation, having bagged most all-India tournaments. It boasts of a galaxy of Team India players like M Vijay, S Badrinath and R Ashwin in addition to MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid. Former Indian opener TE Sreenivasan, all-rounder lakshmanan Sivaramakrishnan and V Chandrasekar, too, don the pads for India Cements.

As for the business empire of Srinivasan, India Cements of the 21st century is no more the small-time cement manufacturer of the 50s vintage. It is an industrial conglomerate with business operations in South East Asia and Europe. Srinivasan has already bought over the shares held by members of co-founder Sankaralingam Iyer family as also those held by his own brother N Ramachandran, to become the sole owner of a bullish conglomerate. 

But what made Srinivasan launch CSKIJ As it turns out now, probably it was for a full-time engagement for son-in-law Gurunath Meiyyappan who never had any other work other than golfing and partying.

Indeed, much as India Cements may deny it, Meiyyappan was the nervecentre of Chennai Super Kings. Top lawyers may find many alibis to prove that Meiyyappan never had any administrative or financial stakes in CSK but they may have to sweat it out to explain what Meyiappan was doing on the CSK desk during the annual auction of players.

Sooner or later, everyone concerned will have to make Srinivasan realise that this is just a power game of a new guard wanting to replace the old one. Srinivasan knows it, the politicians concerned know it and both are more or less making statements which could mean virtually anything – including those by Nationalist Congress Party boss Sharad Pawar and his BCCI protégés Ajay Shirke and Shashank Manohar.

There is more than what meets the eye in this entire episode of betting and spot fixing. In this vast but intricate web, Gurunath Meiyyappan could well be just a puppet.

Interestingly, IPl team Hyderabad Sunrisers is owned by Kalanidhi Maran, elder son of the late Murasoli Maran. The Maran family also owns south India’s largest media house which has interests ranging from satellite TV channels, FM radio stations, newspapers and film production.

Then there is the 2G scam, the Aircel scam, the private international telephone exchange scam, the Kalaignar TV-owned by the Karunanidhi family, the Apollo Hospital in which a powerful Union Minister has major financial stakes and a Congress leader from Tamil Nadu who has set his sights on 7, Race Course Road.

It is an unending mega serial inter-linking all these individuals, institutions and, perhaps, the recent incidents too.

A Supreme Court-monitored probe could bring out startling revelations which may make Srinivasan and his family look like minions. Suffice it to say then, there are many more characters waiting in the wings of this sordid IPl and BCCI mess, hoping never to be exposed.