Hyderabad: In an interesting development the controversial Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) President Jaganmohan Rao was arrested by the state CID sleuths in the alleged IPL tickets scam.
The arrest follows serious allegations by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the Chennai-based IPL franchise, which formally accused Rao of arm-twisting the team into parting with 20% of match tickets. SRH officials also claimed he went so far as to lock an entire enclosure reserved for the franchise at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal until just hours before match day.
And, the Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy, who took the issue seriously, ordered a probe by the state police’s Vigilance Department, headed by another high-profile officer, who was quick to act and submit the report, finding some wrongdoing by the President and his cronies in the HCA.
However, Jaganmohan Rao and his cronies argued that their President has only sought additional tickets for a price and never demanded ‘free of cost’ or ‘complimentary’. But the VD probe proved otherwise in favour of the SRH IPL franchiser. Many thought the VD report may as well turn into an inaction, as in the case of the ACB, which probed and found irregularities in the HCA, from the construction of the stadium to canopies and whatnot – but did not take it to a logical conclusion, though many years passed.
But, the Chief Minister, who was believed to have felt that the Hyderabad name should not be tarnished as SRH, even threatened to shift to a new venue.
As a matter of fact, a case is also pending against the HCA President and others in the apex court for quite some time. One of the cases was against the disqualification of the HCA President.
Though the Supreme Court was set to decide on the disqualification of Jaganmohan Rao from the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) presidency, based on petitions that have been filed challenging Rao’s eligibility for the position. And, the ruling, which was scheduled for July 23 last year, however, went differently for reasons best known to the apex court, may be due to other priority cases.
Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that the Telangana Cricket Association (TCA), which is also locked in a legal battle for BCCI recognition, played a key role in ensuring the arrest of other top HCA officials based on its complaint. Those arrested include HCA Secretary Devaraj, Treasurer C.J. Srinivas, and CEO Sunil Kante, besides the President, following two FIRs, one filed by SRH and the other by the TCA Secretary.
The Telangana CID’s GOW unit, led by SP Srinivas Reddy and Additional SP Mohan Raja, carried out simultaneous arrests across multiple locations using dedicated teams.
Earlier in May/ June, the Telangana Vigilance and Enforcement has submitted a detailed 6-month-long investigation report to the Telangana State Government, which also led the CID to further investigate based on the FIRs registered in early June.
