Dalmiya suspended from attending board meetings
Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former head of the Indian board, has been formally suspended from attending any board meetings while police investigate complaints made against him
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"He [Dalmiya] has been suspended from attending all meetings including the annual general body meeting," N Srinivasan, the BCCI treasurer, told a news conference in Mumbai. He also said that the suspension would be ratified at an "extraordinary meeting" of the board, the date for which will be decided later.
Dalmiya has been accused of misappropriating 2.174 million rupees (US$49,000) from the organising committee of the 1996 World Cup. He has denied the allegations.
Srinivasan said the account, which was opened in the Indian Overseas Bank's Bhawanipore branch in Kolkata, was continued after the 1996 World Cup to meet the income tax issues arising out of the event. Even though only the board secretary and the treasurer were authorised to operate the account, Srinivasan pointed out that "Dalmiya continued to do so even after he resigned as the honorary secretary in 1997". He added that Dalmiya had had also authorised "one Mr KM Chowdhary to operate the account."
Srinivasan said the board, while scrutinising 273 accounts of INDCOM, had noticed several instances of "unexplained cash withdrawals, unauthorised payment of telephone bills and expenses on travel."
Dalmiya isn't the first president to be suspended. Inderjit Singh Bindra was handed a two-year suspension in 2000 by AC Muthiah, the then chief, for alleging that the board shielded those involved in the match-fixing scam.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), of which Dalmiya is president, slammed the BCCI decision as "unfair" and "unjust". CAB joint secretaries Saradindu Pal and Amitava Banerjee said that "the BCCI acted in undue haste and announced the suspension of Dalmiya even before going into the merits of the case."
Earlier in the day, Dalmiya won pre-emptive bail from the Mumbai High Court, a move which prevents the police from arresting him without the court's permission. But within hours he was dealt another blow when the board called a press conference to announce its action.
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