ACB to dig deep into HCA’s shady deals

Officials of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), pursuing alleged irregularities and corrupt practices by present and former office-bearers of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), have said that they will continue to dig into the charges against all those named as being involved in alleged shady deals. The allegations include inflating the cost of building Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, increasing it gradually from the projected construction cost of `31 crore to `108 crore and paying excess amounts for purchase of bucket seats for which the HCA paid an excess amount of `2.07 lakh. There are also other allegations of corruption that the ACB officials are looking into. These include purchase of generators, not calling tenders for three playgrounds, and erection of floodlights, and charges of corruption and kickbacks involving corporate boxes in the RG Stadium.

The complaint was filed by C Babu Rao Sagar, a former executive member of the HCA and secretary of Sagar Cricket Club.

A total of 34 names of individuals and outside agencies like Nagarjuna Construction Company and some architects are all caught up in the net of investigation.

“It may take the ACB a while to unravel the full extent of corruption involved in this,” an ACB official said.

So far, nine non-bailable warrants (NBWs) have been issued against former and present office-bearers. Following the demise of one of them, three were placed under arrest and produced before the court, which granted bail to all three.

Earlier in June, Telangana High Court dismissed four criminal petitions filed by the accused in an ACB case and categorically stated that the petitioners in this instance, have to face trial and prove their innocence.

Several among those accused, including former Hyderabad Cricket Association presidents N. Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub, former office-bearers D. Chalapathi, P. Yadagiri, present office-bearers Naresh Sharma, K. John Manoj and Surendra Kumar Agarwal and former EC member Syed Moizuddin, filed pleas to quash the criminal proceedings initiated against them in 2017 before the Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases, Hyderabad. ACB officials said that two warrants were issued against Yadagiri and NBWs against four other accused, including former Test player L Venkatapathy Raju and present secretary Vijayanand.