Officials berate Bindra

NEW DELHI, MAY 15. The Board joint secretary, Mr. Jyoti Bajpai on Monday, denied he had ever mentioned any corruption by players in his report as manager of the Indian team for the Sharjah tournament in 1998.

Former Board president, Mr. I. S. Bindra had claimed that Mr. Bajpai had made a mention of it.

``I categorically deny having spoken about certain players. I did not make any verbal mention as Mr. Bindra claims,'' said Mr. Bajpai at a press conference here.

Office bearers of the Board's affiliated units from Karnataka, Delhi, Bengal, Rajasthan, Universities and Gujarat had gathered to counter Mr. Bindra's statements on corruption by players and some Board officials.

The press conference, addressed by Board vice- president, Mr. Kamal Moraraka, essentially focussed on Mr. Bindra's outbursts in the media against the Board. ``Why does Mr. Bindra rush to the press and not air his grievances with the Board or the CBI as he has been stating,'' asked Mr. Moraraka.

Mr. Moraraka wanted to know why Mr. Bindra did not act when he was the president of the Board. ``Today Mr. Bindra is complaining about masala matches but it was under his tenure as president of the Board that India resumed playing in Sharjah and signed an agreement to play in Toronto, which he now says is useless. For him the right forum to complain is the Board and not the press. This is no way to conduct oneself,'' Mr. Moraraka said.

Mr. Moraraka also charged Mr. Bindra with trying to dominate the Board and browbeat its members by making accusations in public without substantiating the same.

Ironically, around the time Mr. Moraraka and the rest were training their guns on the former Board president, accusing him of not approaching the CBI with his facts and information, Mr. Bindra was submitting a thick dossier to the CBI here on the match-fixing and telecast deal scandals.

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Section  : Sport
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