ACB has no power to fix tainted Hyderabad Cricket Association officials!

HYDERABAD: After a 33-month long investigation into the allegations of corruption against the office-bearers of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has concluded that the cricket body is not connected to the government and, hence, its officials cannot be booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In April 2011, the then HCA member C Babu Rao Sagar filed a petition before the local ACB court accusing some office-bearers and executive committee members of the association of conniving with several private contractors to commit irregularities in the construction of the stadium at Uppal, which he said caused a loss of over Rs 100 crore to the association.

In his petition, the complainant alleged that the HCA officials in collusion with various private contractors siphoned off over Rs 100 crore through various ways including resorting to an exorbitant hike in the cost of construction of Uppal cricket stadium, from Rs 31 crore to Rs 108 crore, awarding separate contract worth Rs 21 crore for canopy, causing a Rs 2 crore loss by purchasing bucket seats at double the price, procuring seven generators from a private firm without calling for tenders and paying Rs 12 lakh extra on each one of them and buying six acres land in Nizamabad district for Rs 6 lakh while showing the value of the same as Rs1 crore. There were also allegations of malpractice in the sale of tickets during the 2007 India-Australia match and that 22 HCA office-bearers received gold biscuits worth Rs 44 lakh from cricket association.

Based on the petition, on April 7, 2011, the ACB court directed the bureau to conduct a detailed probe into the allegations leveled by the petitioner and submit a report.

During the probe, ACB sleuths recorded the statements of about 40 persons including the accused HCA office-bearers and executive committee (EC) members like current vice presidents Shivlal Yadav, E Venkat Ram Reddy, P Yadagiri, and secretary MV Sridhar, joint secretary S Venkateswaran, treasurer Naresh Sarma, EC members Syed Moizuddin and Narsing Rao. They also recorded the statements of various private contractors.

The investigating officials have written to Board of Control for Cricket in India (Bseeking information to know if HCA had the authority to carry out the works cited by the petitioner and BCCI promptly responded saying that HCA had all the powers to take up and execute such works. The probe agency also found out that HCA officials are not government servants and the association has not got any benefit from the government, hence, they cannot be prosecuted under the PC Act. However, ACB sleuths found out that irregularities had taken place in terms of purchase of various equipment, land and awarding of contracts.