MS Shanker
The rot in the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has deepened dramatically, with last week’s crackdown by the Telangana State CID following a damning Vigilance and Enforcement Directorate (VED) report. Five arrests have already been made — including HCA President Jaganmohan Rao, CEO Sunil Kante, Treasurer CJ srinivas, and others linked to the infamous forged club letter episode.
But beneath the surface lies a murkier saga — one of factional warfare, coercion, and brazen misuse of authority.
Documents accessed by this e-paper reveal a disturbing chain of events involving CEO Sunil Kante, who was pressured to resign by President Jaganmohan Rao’s camp after allegedly aligning too closely with HCA Secretary Devraj, effectively sidelining the President’s faction. Ironically, Kante now finds himself behind bars, not for any recent misdeeds, but for alleged irregularities surrounding his appointment in 2021, made in violation of basic rules (23(1)) by then Secretary R. Vijayanand, allegedly in collusion with then Vice-President John Manoj.
According to sources, the rift between Secretary Devraj and President Rao widened after Devraj opposed Rao’s request for an additional 10% quota of IPL match tickets — complimentary or otherwise — from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Once the VED launched its probe into HCA affairs, Devraj reportedly tried to distance himself from what he perceived as a compromised and corrupt leadership.
In a highly charged executive committee (EC) meeting — ostensibly convened to prepare for the AGM — tensions exploded. Devraj, who had planned to brief the media and present documentary evidence, was allegedly gagged by threats. Witnesses say Rao slammed the table in fury and warned members not to defy him. While Rao claimed he had merely “requested” extra tickets, his loyalists — including the Vice-President, Joint Secretary, and Treasurer — were reportedly forced to toe the line.
The next day, the EC meeting turned into a virtual ambush. Rao’s camp engineered the ouster of CEO Sunil Kant, ostensibly over procedural lapses in his appointment. Then, Secretary Vijayanand appointed Kante to a five-year term, despite HCA rules prescribing a one-year tenure for the CEO role. Notably, then President Mohammad Azharuddin had raised objections to the appointment at the time. He even sacked him, but Kante got an order for his retention from the Court.
Vijayanand, defending the decision, insists all protocols were followed. “Kante was shortlisted from 31 applicants, properly interviewed, and appointed after the April 11 meeting. We even invited the President to the Apex Council meeting, but he didn’t show up,” he said.
Yet under mounting pressure, Kante resigned — and his resignation was hastily accepted by the President’s camp, notably without the Secretary’s consent. This move lays bare the deep fissures in HCA’s administration and raises serious questions. Why was his resignation accepted with a promise of three months’ salary, only to remove him immediately? If he were to be paid, why not use his services? If not, what was the motive behind this farcical arrangement?
Even more troubling is Kante’s arrest. Was he picked up purely based on prior VED findings, or is he being targeted as collateral damage in a political clean-up operation gone rogue?
Meanwhile, Secretary Devraj has reportedly gone underground, fearing for his safety. Far from being complicit, insiders view him as a rare voice of resistance who refused to endorse Kante’s ouster and tried to call out wrongdoing from within.
Now, as CID digs deeper, questions mount about how Jaganmohan Rao — a man with a scant cricketing background, best known for his proximity to the KCR family and his role in the Telangana Handball Association — came to head the HCA. His rise was reportedly aided by forged documents, and his victory was sealed by a razor-thin margin — just one vote — after his opponent mysteriously declined a recount. That decision only deepens the cloud of suspicion.
The time has come to investigate those who facilitated Rao’s ascent, including former HCA secretaries and entrenched power brokers who have long treated the association as a private fiefdom.
Hyderabad cricket is in freefall. And unless the CID peels back the layers of this rot, HCA — once a proud institution of Indian cricket — may be lost to infighting, egos, and endemic corruption.
To his credit, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has ensured this scandal didn’t get buried. Without his intervention and green light to probe, none of these uncomfortable truths would have surfaced.
