Court orders closure of case against PCA

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, MARCH 24. A Chandigarh court has permitted closure of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) case recently, according to information received here.

It may be recalled that a case was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against `unknown officials and others' on February 25, 1997, pertaining to transfer of State land to the Punjab Cricket Association at Mohali for construction of a cricket stadium.

No evidence could be furnished by the country's leading investigating agency to establish criminal misconduct of Mr. I. S. Bindra, President, Punjab Cricket Association, and Mr. R. S. Mann in `matters connected with the utilisation of land and funds granted by the (Punjab) Government to the PCA.'

District and Sessions Judge B. S. Bedi allowed withdrawal of the case after the alleged irregularities could not be proved.

On his exoneration, Mr. Bindra has issued the following statement:

This (the judgment) totally vindicates the stand our association had taken and the statements I had issued on its behalf at the time of its registration. I will like to avail of this opportunity to thank large sections of the print and electronic media and the cricket loving public who gave us the courage and strength to face the onslaught launched by certain vested interests in cricket whose paths I had crossed as cricket administrator.

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