Dalmiya, Rungta grilled for over 7 hrs

Jagmohan Dalmiya emerges from police headquarters after being questioned in connection with a case of misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 21.74 lakh related to the 1996 World Cup

Former Says He Can Furnish Documents To Refute Charges of Misappropriation

By Mateen Hafeez/TNN

Mumbai: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police grilled former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and former treasurer Kishore Rungta for over seven hours on Monday in a case involving misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 21.74 lakh.
Dalmiya, who was grilled by a group of five officials, avoided the media later. “The matter is subjudice. I cannot comment right now,’’ was all he said.

Earlier, Dalmiya arrived at the police headquarters near Crawford Market at 11 am in a grey Mercedes. Dodging waiting mediapersons, he headed for the EOW’s office on the second floor. Later, he was brought to the first floor where he was questioned behind closed doors. Though EOW officials prepared 35 questions based on the FIR, Dalmiya finally answered around 80, officials said.

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, had on March 17 filed a complaint with the Marine Drive police station accusing Dalmiya and four others of misusing BCCI funds since 1996. The case was transferred to the EOW on March 21. Former board secretary S K Nair, Jyoti Bajpai and Rungta are the other three charged in the FIR. They have been accused of criminal breach of trust (section 406), cheating (section 420), forgery (section 467), criminal conspiracy (section 120-b)) and breach of trust (section 408).

Speaking to TOI, an investigators said an World Cup account (number 1223) was opened with the Indian Overseas Bank (Kolkata branch) in 1995. However, no proper details were furnished on how Rs 21.74 lakh was used from it. Dalmiya was the cheque-signing authority for the account.

“We asked Dalmiya how the Rs 21.74 lakh was used. He said at least 64 cases were pending against BCCI in various courts and tribunals over non-payment of taxes. According to him, the money was spent on transportation, paper work, legal fees and expenses for meetings among other things. Dalmiya added he had not misused the funds and most of the money went towards legal expenses,’’ an official said.

The police asked Dalmiya to produce documents relating to all transactions that had taken place through the account from 1996 to date. “We also questioned Dalmiya as to why he didn’t hand over the account to the current BCCI body. As per our information, he closed the account on February 4 this year,’’ an officer said.

Dalmiya reportedly could not answer why he operated the account between September 2005 and February 4 and then closed it. According to police sources, though the question threw him, Dalmiya continued answering other queries. While police sources said they suspected that someone else operated the account after Dalmiya’s ouster from the BCCI, they were not willing to reveal anything else at this stage.

On asked whether the BCCI finance committee cleared the expenses claimed by him, Dalmiya reportedly said he had acted legally and would provide all the documents concerned. The EOW also asked the Indian Overseas Bank to provide the statements of transactions of the account.

The EOW also wanted to know the source of funds in the account.

Commenting on the issue, K L Bishnoi, additional commissioner of police (EOW) said, “Our investigations are going in the right direction. We are getting satisfactory results.’’

While all the officials named in the FIR were present at the EOW office, only Dalmiya and Rungta were called for questioning on Monday. No lawyers were allowed during the interrogation. It’s learnt that Nair, Bajpai and Kishan Chaudhary (Dalmiya’s personal secretary) and the branch manager of Indian Overseas Bank’s Kolkata branch will be called for questioning over the next couple of days.

In 1996, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka hosted the cricket World Cup. A joint committee called Pilcom was created and Dalmiya, then BCCI secretary, was nominated convener-secretary.

The Pilcom account was opened in a London bank. BCCI then formed Indcom to oversee the matches in India. Its Kolkata account was operated by Dalmiya, and according to the FIR, he had misused funds for his hotel, boarding, lodging and telephone bills.

The Times of India, March 28, 2006