Proceedings at the Supreme Court’s hearings into the BCCI’s new constitution took a bizarre sidestep on Wednesday, after the board treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry was asked by the court to respond to a complaint that he threatened a board official on two occasions.
The complaint was made in writing – according to the amicus curiae Gopal Subramaniam – by the BCCI’s chief financial officer (CFO) Santosh Rangnekar who said that the alleged threats were made on January 25 and October 6, 2017. It is not clear what the context of the threats was and Chaudhry flatly denied he had made them.
Subramanium read out the allegations from Rangnekar’s complaint that the “HT (honorary treasurer) ordered me to the conference room,” asked him to switch off his phone and made sure no camera or microphone was on before issuing the what he deems to be the threat. “No treasurer – whatever his ancestry [Chaudhry’s father is a former BCCI president and grandfather a former union defence minister and Haryana chief minister] – can threaten the CFO,” Subramanium said in the court.
The letter, Subramanium said, was sent to him by the solicitor of the court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA). “No office bearer has any authority to administer threats to the CFO,” Subramanium added. “To say that he will be liquidated.”
One of the threats, according to Subramaniam, was: “If you were in Haryana, you’d be evaporated by now.” The second, on October 6, took place at the ITC Maurya hotel in Delhi: “I will finish you. One more mistake, and you are over.”
Chaudhry, who was also present at the hearing, told reporters that no such thing happened. “I am too shocked to react to these blatant lies. This is the first time, sitting in the court, that I have heard about this. As directed by the court, I will file my reply.”
Asked to expand on what might have been the context of the alleged conversations, Chaudhry expressed ignorance. He was yet to read the written complaint that was presented in the court. However, he did go on to suggest that he had been singled out because he has not always been in agreement with the way things have functioned in the BCCI since the court asked the CoA to take over and oversee the implementation of the reforms suggested by the Lodha Committee.
“I have been expressing my views on issues, including some financial matters, which probably have not been palatable to them and has resulted in this.”
Chaudhry’s counsel said he was also not made aware of this complaint before the hearing. They have been given two weeks to respond.
That development meant that a hearing into actual matter at hand – the new BCCI constitution – was put off until the second week of January (where the matter of the threats will also be taken up). The court was informed that the CoA has prepared a chart with the BCCI’s objections to the draft constitution and suggestions. Subramaniam also requested the court to continue barring from the board’s Special General Meeting (SGM) those board officials who were disqualified and had attended the earlier SGM. “When your lordship has passed the order for one SGM, it has to apply to all SGMs.” An order regarding that is awaited.
During the last hearing, on October 30, the court had said it was not going to hear any further arguments. Then, the matter for November 29 was listed under “final disposal at admission stage”, which raised hopes that this long-running case might finally reach a conclusion.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo