Gurunath, once CSK's face, takes another knock

CHENNAI: From being one of Chennai Super Kings' most visible faces to the ignominy that followed after being charged with placing bets and passing on team information - Gurunath Meiyappan's affair with IPL has been storied. The Lodha Committee on Tuesday suspended Gurunath, former BCCI chief and India Cements director N Srinivasan's son-in-law, from being involved in any cricket-related activity for life.
Gurunath is Grandson of A V Meiyappan, the founder of AVM Productions, but cinema did not hold his interest. The fast lane to success caught his fancy and IPL perfectly suited his ambitions. Not too visible in IPL 1, Gurunath since 2009 became known as a ringside monitor of the team. "He used to be present during team meetings. He was more friendly with the big boys like Dhoni and Raina," a team member said.
In September 2013, the Mumbai police named Gurunath in a chargesheet, accusing him of cheating, betting, and conspiracy. "We play to win but want to do so in the right fashion. We were guided by what we wanted, while keeping an eye on the rest of the franchises," Gurunath is reported to have once said. According to an insider, one evening, after he was named in the betting scandal, a family member castigated Gurunath for bringing disrepute and he broke down. Srinivasan, according to sources, too was left seething and instructed his son-in-law to stay away from CSK matches. The portion of AVM studios in Vadapalani, belonging to Gurunath's father AVM Balasubramanian, which was built to accommodate the lavish and opulent sets of MGR's 1966 runaway hit Anbe Vaa, was razed a few months back with Gurunath putting out the land for realtor friend Vikram Aggarwal with a plan of developing close to 600 apartments in its place.
The portion of AVM studios in Vadapalani, belonging to Gurunath's father AVM Balasubramanian, which was built to accommodate the lavish and opulent sets of MGR's 1966 runaway hit Anbe Vaa was razed a few months back with Gurunath putting out the land for realtor friend Vikram Aggarwal with a plan of developing close to 600 apartments in its place.
An overbearing love for the good life was manifest in most of Gurunath's choices, including a 5 crore yacht reportedly imported from Riviera's Gold Coast factory in Australia for which . One such was a yacht, reportedly imported from Riviera's Gold Coast factory in Australia and he is believed to have paid 3 crore as customs duty as customs duty for the vessel which cost Rs 5 crore. An avid golfer and a motor racing enthusiast, and has won the Palani Hills Open amateur golf tournament multiple times apart from competing in Formula Asia. Gurunath once said, "In a day's golf, you can discover much about a man's character - how he is as a person, how he would do business. Everything." In Gurunath's case though, cricket proved to be the revealer.