Hyderabad Cricket Association Body Suspended, Accounts Seized 

Hyderabad: Amidst controversies and allegations over misappropriation of funds, the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday suspended the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) Arshad Ayub and ordered the seizure of all its bank accounts.

The court dealing with a petition on the maladministration of HCA, issued an interim order suspending the president Arshad Ayub, secretary John Manoj and joint secretary Agarwal whose term actually came to an end. The court also directed that the elections should be held to elect a new body by December 24.

The court was particularly angry that the executive body did not implement the recommendations made by Justice Lodha Committee to improve the facilities at various stadiums.

A tussle between two groups within the body was going on for some time and recently the HCA unanimously adopted the recommendations of the Justice Lodha panel.

"In the Special General Meeting of the Hyderabad Cricket Association held at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, members of the General Body have unanimously passed a resolution to amend the Memorandum, Rules and Regulations of the Hyderabad Cricket Association to bring it in conformity with the recommendations of the Supreme Court Committee headed by Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha as per the judgment of the Supreme Court passed in Civil Appeal 4235 of 2014 (BCCI vs Cricket Association of Bihar & Others) dated 18th July 2016," the HCA said in a statement on November 21.

Arshad Ayub, former president G. Vinod and seven other leaders have been charged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for misappropriation of public money to the tune of Rs4 crore. The ACB had urged a trial court to try and punish them under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Deputy Superintendent of Police, M Madhusudan Reddy filed the charge sheet and confirmed that they fall under the purview of the definition of a public servant and hence can be punished under PC Act. More so, because they were entrusted with funds of Sports Authority of AP (SAAP). All the nine accused officials appeared before the ACB Court on Monday and judge Victor Immanuel recorded their presence and directed them to appear before the court on November 28 again.

Arshad Ayub is a former Indian off-spinner who played for India in between 1987 and 1990. In the early 2000s, Ayub moved to cricket administration and became the HCA President in 2010. In 2014, he became the President again.

Apart from Ayub and Vinod, most of them are current and former office bearers of HCA. Present Secretary K John Manoj, former secretary Seshadri Venkateswaran, R Devaraj, former treasurer Naresh Sharma and Kishore Kapoor of Delhi-based Star Mercantile Company have all been accused of committing the fraud. No evidence was found against another accused A Yadagiri and ACB authorities have urged the court to delete his name from the case.

The charge sheet said that the accused have misused Rs 3.30 crore for the construction of canopy at the north and south stands of Uppal Sports Stadium falls within Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits. Delhi-based contractor Kishore Kapoor was the person behind it. Ranga Reddy, the district collector, made it clear that the stadium cannot be used for commercial purposes. But the HCA officials violated this clause and went ahead with commercial activities inside the stadium.

Following allegations of misuse in 2013, the then President, G Vinod promised that they won’t let out any part of the stadium premises for commercial activities. Although the probe was on, there was no conclusion back then. Last year, a case was registered against current president Arshad Ayub for allegedly duping people by taking money from them on the promise of providing flats.

Last year, a case was registered against current president Arshad Ayub for allegedly duping people by taking money from them on the promise of providing flats.