A FIR lodged against BCCI's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has just reversed the decision of hosting Ranji Trophy at neutral venues ahead of the 2017-18 domestic season. Following, this a FIR has been lodged against BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, for alleged misappropriation of funds of the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) during his tenure as its president of the Association.

Following this Chief Judicial Magistrate GK Tiwari passed an order asking the in-charge officer of Jharkhand’s Bistapur police station, to register a FIR for investigation on the allegations against the then president, and his fellow office bearers of JSCA. The order was followed after a complaint was passed, filed by Ujjal Das who is a former cricketer from the state.

Choudhary terms allegations baseless

The allegations were against JSCA’s life member Naresh Makani who was also then named as the Secretary of the state, Rajesh Verma, former treasurer Govinda Mukherjee and Ranjit Kumar Singh, a member of the state cricket body as the persons to be probed.

The FIR was filed with the police on the 24th of July, while Amitabh Choudhary was questioned on this issue, earlier in the month on July 14, after the court order. “All these allegations are rubbish and have no basis,” Choudhary had said. He also claimed that people in Jharkhand know him very well and all these allegations are being made as Ranchi has replaced Jamshedpur as the world-class cricketing centre.

Allegations of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy were levelled in the complaint filed by Ujjal Das, while the former IAS officer is yet to reply. Das in his complaint claimed that the BCCI had allotted Rs 196.23 crore to the JSCA during the period 2010 to 2015 for the promotion of cricket in the state, but the funds were not utilised properly. Besides, the complaint alleged that the funds were not utilised properly for the construction of an international stadium in Ranchi.