Cricket Association Of Uttarakhand Officials Interrogated By Police For Alleged Extortion And Death Threat Case
Updated - 14 Jul 2022, 05:15 PM
Top officials of the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) have been alleged of extortion and death threats by the parent of a former India U19 player. CAU secretary Mahim Verma, Uttarakhand head coach Manish Jha and spokesperson Sanjay Ghusain were questioned by Uttarakhand police after an FIR was registered against them.
The FIR was lodged at the Vasant Vihar police station in Dehradun and it has been filed under IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections for criminal conspiracy (120B), voluntarily causing hurt (323), extortion (384), intentional insult (504) and criminal intimidation (506).
CAU officials interrogated by Uttarakhand Police
Virendra Sethi filed the complaint and alleges that his son Aryan Sethi was issued death threats from coach Jha, team manager Navneet Mishra and video analyst Piyush Raghuvanshi during the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 last year.
“For the past three days, we have called Mahim Verma, Manish Jha and Sanjay Gusain separately. We have interrogated them. We have taken their statements. If needed, it will be done again,” Janmejaya Khanduri, SSP Dehradun, told The Indian Express.
Uttarakhand players paid low wages and denied food facilities during matches
According to a report by The Indian Express, the CAU’s audit report of March 31, 2020, has listed Rs 1,74,07,346 for food and catering and Rs 49,58,750 for daily allowances. This includes Rs 35 lakh for bananas and Rs 22 lakh for water bottles.
On the other side, Uttarakhand players have alleged that the association hasn’t paid them the minimum fare of INR 1500 instead they received only 100 rupees per match and were also denied food from CAU during the matches.
Uttarakhand batter Robin Bist said the players were asked to manage their own travel after they lost to Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final by 725 runs – the biggest win in first-class matches with a heavy margin.
“We returned to the team hotel and, after our recovery session in the pool, went for lunch. The hotel staff said they were told not to serve us food. When we called the team manager, he replied: ‘Order something from Swiggy or Zomato or stay hungry. If you don’t eat for a day, you won’t die’,” said Bist, who has played 106 first-class matches and 61 List A games.
“Next day (after quarter-final game), we had a flight to Delhi. After exiting the airport, we again called up our team manager to say that we needed to go to Dehradun. ‘Where is our bus?’ The reply came, ‘book a cab, bus or train. Our job was to get you guys to Delhi, not your homes’.
“Our official DA is Rs 1,500, we were getting Rs 100 per day. We got Rs 2,700 for 27 days; an unskilled labourer earned more than us” Bist added.
CAU president Jot Singh and secretary Mahim Verma also face complaints from their own association’s vice-president Sanjay Rawat and joint secretary Avnish Verma for alleged financial irregularities.
