By Our Correspondent
Hyderabad: Fresh controversy has erupted around the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) after allegations surfaced that nearly ₹69 crore meant for cricket development in Telangana was siphoned off through a controversial arbitration payout involving Visaka Industries, whose chairman is Telangana minister Dr. G. Vivekanand.
The complaint, filed by Daram Guruva Reddy, General Secretary of the Telangana Cricket Association (TCA), seeks criminal investigation into what he describes as a “collusive arrangement” between former HCA office-bearers and Visaka Industries that allegedly resulted in the massive payout. The representation has been addressed to Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, the Director General of Police, the Crime Investigation Department, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
According to the complaint, the controversy dates back to an agreement signed on October 16, 2004, when HCA was planning the construction of the international cricket stadium in Hyderabad. As part of the project, Visaka Industries reportedly invested around ₹4.32 crore and paid a total of about ₹6.5 crore in return for advertising and naming rights associated with the stadium project.
However, the dispute later went to arbitration, and in March 2016 an arbitral award directed HCA to pay ₹25.92 crore to Visaka Industries. The complainant alleges that successive HCA administrations failed to challenge the award despite potential legal options, allowing interest and penalties to accumulate for nearly a decade.
By February 2026, the amount had reportedly ballooned to about ₹68.73 crore. A communication from Canara Bank indicates that HCA eventually transferred the amount through demand drafts to comply with the enforcement order issued in CEP No. 22/2025 by the commercial court.
The complaint alleges that the prolonged delay in contesting the arbitration award and the eventual payment reflect a “quid pro quo arrangement” between certain HCA officials and Visaka Industries. It claims that funds originally allocated by the BCCI for cricket development in Telangana were diverted to settle the inflated liability.
Among those named in the complaint are former HCA presidents Mohammad Azharuddin and G. Vinod Kumar, as well as current and former members of the HCA Apex Council. The complaint also refers to the 2023 report submitted by former Supreme Court judge Justice L. Nageswara Rao, which reportedly flagged irregularities and possible conflicts of interest in certain HCA decisions.
The TCA has urged authorities to register FIRs under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. It has also sought a forensic audit of HCA accounts from 2004 to 2026 and recommended that the BCCI suspend HCA operations until the matter is fully investigated.
The controversy has also raised uncomfortable questions for the Telangana government because Vivekanand, who previously served as HCA president, is now a minister in the state cabinet. Critics argue that the case could test the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability, particularly since the original stadium project involved land leased by the state government.
Whether the state government orders an independent probe or allows central agencies to investigate the matter could determine the next course of the unfolding controversy, which many believe has serious implications for the governance of cricket in Telangana.
