'Players cheated of lakhs of rupees...': Ex-BCCI panel chief and IPS officer talks about 'malpractices' in Indian cricket
During team selection, Neeraj Kumar writes about a number of ‘unpleasant things also happen at the grassroots level.’
- Feb 19, 2023,
- Updated Feb 19, 2023 8:46 PM IST
Neeraj Kumar, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, entered the cricket world in 2015 when he was named head of the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). During his tenure there, he found out that fixing is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg of corruption in cricket and a "minuscule percentage of the large-scale chicanery that cricket administrators indulge in".
"A Cop in Cricket," which was published by Juggernaut Books, details Kumar's personal struggles while serving as the ACU chief at the BCCI from June 1, 2015, to May 31, 2018, as well as his "witness statement of the three critical years of the national cricket body caught in the throes of change".
He accuses revenue misappropriation by state cricket associations, citing the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association case.
“The handsome revenues earned by cricket in India – thanks to the IPL – are parcelled off to state cricket associations, where the money is mostly misappropriated. The 2015 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case against the top bosses of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) for embezzlement of crores of rupees given to them by the BCCI is a case in point," Neeraj claims.
He then goes on to say that "unsavoury things also happen at the grassroots level,” during the team selecting process. “Those happenings remain a matter between the selector and the aspiring cricketer or his family."
Many such complaints were investigated by the ACU during Neeraj's tenure, including a handful where sexual favours were solicited from teenage cricketers.
"We were frequently approached by players and their guardians complaining that they were cheated of lakhs of rupees by coaches or officials who promised them a place in an IPL or Ranji team and then disappeared, leaving them high and dry," Kumar writes.
In the book, Kumar also makes reference to the relationship between then-BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Vinod Rai, the head of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the BCCI who was appointed by the Supreme Court to take over the organization's governance in 2017. According to Kumar, the "father didn't wish to hear anything against his prodigal son" in this relationship.
Kumar asserts that he alerted Rai about a number of Johri-related issues. "He always gave me a patient hearing and made me feel he was on my side and would discipline Rahul Johri suitably. But I noticed he did nothing of the sort," he writes.
"Looking back at the sequence of events, I continue to be appalled and outraged. The defaulting CEO had conspired with the chief administrator to embarrass me and pass on the blame for his own misdoings to me in a meeting and had shared his plans with a journalist.
"Even more hurtful was that Rai pretended to be on my side only a couple of hours earlier and conducted himself in the meeting along the lines his CEO had scripted for him, even when he knew all the facts," he says.
Also, Kumar claims that Indian supporters are treated horribly.
"There is hardly a stadium that can boast of a world-class spectating facility with clean toilets, availability of hygienic food and refreshments, clean drinking water, parking facilities, smooth accessibility, firefighting equipment, and so on. End of the day, it is on account of the fans that the Board generates enormous revenue, but sadly nobody cares for them.
"The so-called cricket administrators, most of whom have never held a cricket ball or bat in their lives, end up as the main beneficiaries of the monies earned by cricket in this country, at the expense of the fans of the game and the players," he says.
Also Read: India vs Australia Second Test: Ashwin, Jadeja rip through Australian middle order, wickets tumble
Neeraj Kumar, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, entered the cricket world in 2015 when he was named head of the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). During his tenure there, he found out that fixing is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg of corruption in cricket and a "minuscule percentage of the large-scale chicanery that cricket administrators indulge in".
"A Cop in Cricket," which was published by Juggernaut Books, details Kumar's personal struggles while serving as the ACU chief at the BCCI from June 1, 2015, to May 31, 2018, as well as his "witness statement of the three critical years of the national cricket body caught in the throes of change".
He accuses revenue misappropriation by state cricket associations, citing the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association case.
“The handsome revenues earned by cricket in India – thanks to the IPL – are parcelled off to state cricket associations, where the money is mostly misappropriated. The 2015 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case against the top bosses of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) for embezzlement of crores of rupees given to them by the BCCI is a case in point," Neeraj claims.
He then goes on to say that "unsavoury things also happen at the grassroots level,” during the team selecting process. “Those happenings remain a matter between the selector and the aspiring cricketer or his family."
Many such complaints were investigated by the ACU during Neeraj's tenure, including a handful where sexual favours were solicited from teenage cricketers.
"We were frequently approached by players and their guardians complaining that they were cheated of lakhs of rupees by coaches or officials who promised them a place in an IPL or Ranji team and then disappeared, leaving them high and dry," Kumar writes.
In the book, Kumar also makes reference to the relationship between then-BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Vinod Rai, the head of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the BCCI who was appointed by the Supreme Court to take over the organization's governance in 2017. According to Kumar, the "father didn't wish to hear anything against his prodigal son" in this relationship.
Kumar asserts that he alerted Rai about a number of Johri-related issues. "He always gave me a patient hearing and made me feel he was on my side and would discipline Rahul Johri suitably. But I noticed he did nothing of the sort," he writes.
"Looking back at the sequence of events, I continue to be appalled and outraged. The defaulting CEO had conspired with the chief administrator to embarrass me and pass on the blame for his own misdoings to me in a meeting and had shared his plans with a journalist.
"Even more hurtful was that Rai pretended to be on my side only a couple of hours earlier and conducted himself in the meeting along the lines his CEO had scripted for him, even when he knew all the facts," he says.
Also, Kumar claims that Indian supporters are treated horribly.
"There is hardly a stadium that can boast of a world-class spectating facility with clean toilets, availability of hygienic food and refreshments, clean drinking water, parking facilities, smooth accessibility, firefighting equipment, and so on. End of the day, it is on account of the fans that the Board generates enormous revenue, but sadly nobody cares for them.
"The so-called cricket administrators, most of whom have never held a cricket ball or bat in their lives, end up as the main beneficiaries of the monies earned by cricket in this country, at the expense of the fans of the game and the players," he says.
Also Read: India vs Australia Second Test: Ashwin, Jadeja rip through Australian middle order, wickets tumble