Chennai: Former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya has been suspended from participating in the affairs of the board. Announcing the decision here on Monday, BCCI treasurer N. Srinivasan said Mr. Dalmiya could not take part in any board meeting until the BCCI disciplinary committee arrived at a verdict over alleged misappropriation of funds from the INDCOM account opened for the 1996 World Cup.

Mr. Srinivasan said the working committee of the board, which met in Mumbai on April 9, had felt the matter was serious and "there were prima facie indications of misuse and misappropriation of funds."

Pawar authorised

The matter was subsequently referred to the BCCI disciplinary committee, he said. The panel had also authorised board president Sharad Pawar to take an immediate decision on the issue.

Reading out from Mr. Pawar's letter to Mr. Dalmiya, he said the BCCI president, looking into the gravity of allegations, and in accordance with the powers vested in him had suspended Mr. Dalmiya from participating in any of the affairs of the board until a decision is taken on the charges. The board was not satisfied by Mr. Dalmiya's response to the `show cause' notice issued by it.

Mr. Srinivasan said the INDCOM account, which was opened in the Indian Overseas Bank's Bhawanipore branch in Kolkata, was continued after the 1996 World Cup to meet the income tax issues arising out of the event.

Only the board secretary and the treasurer were authorised to operate the account he said. "But Mr. Dalmiya continued to do so even after he resigned as the honorary secretary in 1997," he pointed out. He had also authorised "one Mr. K.M. Chowdhary to operate the account," Mr. Srinivasan said.

Mr. Srinivasan said the board, while scrutinising 273 accounts of INDCOM, had noticed several instances of "unexplained cash withdrawals, unauthorised payment of telephone bills and expenses on travel."

Breaking down the figures he said, "The cash withdrawals for travel were Rs. 1.59 crore, Rs. 1.28 crore for telephone and more than Rs. 1 crore for travel and foreign exchange."

Mr. Srinivasan added, "He (Mr. Dalmiya) claimed the accounts were audited, but did not produce the books of accounts."

Unjust, says CAB

Sports Reporter from Kolkata reports

Terming the six-month suspension of its president Jagmohan Dalmiya by BCCI as "unfair and unjust'', the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has decided to convene an emergency working committee meeting to "discuss the future course of action."

The CAB issued a joint statement from its secretaries Saradindu Pal and Amitava Banerjee saying that BCCI "acted in undue haste'' in announcing Dalmiya's suspension before the Mumbai High Court granted him anticipatory bail.

"The matter came up for hearing in the Mumbai High Court at 3 p.m. today (Monday) and Mr. Dalmiya was granted anticipatory bail by the court. The BCCI acted in undue haste and announced the suspension even before going into the merit of the case," the joint statement said.

The CAB announced that it will "seek legal opinion on the matter" and would make its decisions based on that. Mr. Dalmiya refused to comment on the issue saying that he had been advised against it by his lawyers.

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