Tripura HC approves SIT plea to probe cricket corruption

Agartala: Cricket clubs recognized by the Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) on Tuesday welcomed the Tripura High Court’s recent order to form a Special Investigation Team to investigate “corruption charges” against the Association.

Speaking to media persons at Agartala Press Club, secretary of Blood Mouth Club (a local cricket club recognized by TCA), Debasish Bhattacharjee, described the High Court’s order to constitute the SIT as recognition of their persistent movement against the elected body of the state cricket body.

“We have been saying that there was a massive financial misconduct in the installation of flood lights in the MBB Cricket stadium in Tripura. To make things clear, we have brought a quotation from another company with the same specification of flood lights. A whopping Rs 16 crore was spent for installation of flood lights in the stadium while the company whom we have contacted has said that they would be able to do the work maintaining all the standards in Rs 1.53 crore. One can easily figure out the scale of corruption that has taken place in the process,” Bhattacharjee told reporters.

He further said that the 10 percent security deposit which the construction company submitted customarily was also withdrawn much before the work was complete. According to Bhattacharjee, General Secretary of the Cricket Body Tapas Ghosh and Vice President Timir Chanda are directly involved in the corruption. “Some other people are also hand in glove with them. I hope the SIT inquiry will unmask all of them,” he pointed out.

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He also shared some bills submitted by the TCA authorities to justify his allegations of rampant financial irregularities. “The Cricket Association of Belonia was given Rs 24 lakh in the last financial year, but the association did not conduct a single tournament in the last financial year. At the inauguration of the Dharmanagar cricket stadium, Rs 22 lakh was spent on procurement of sweets, and Rs 18 lakh was spent on decorations. They should explain how such a huge amount of money was spent in a gathering of barely a thousand people. Because of all these reasons, the TCA governing council could not pass the budget for the current financial year. In the history of Tripura Cricket, this is the first-time cricket clubs have objected to the financial resolution moved by the General Secretary in the Annual General Meeting”, he said.

Notably, the High Court, in its direction, told the state government to constitute a three-member SIT to investigate the condition and that none of the members should be less than the rank of a superintendent of police.   

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