Top officials of Hyderabad cricket body held for forgery, graft

HYDERABAD: Telangana police on Wednesday arrested five people, including three of the most senior office-bearers of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), in a case of forgery and misappropriation of funds. Among those arrested are president A Jagan Mohan Rao, treasurer C J Srinivas Rao and CEO Suneel Kante. Two top executives of a city-based cricket club too have been arrested. The role of another senior HCA office bearer is being probed.

Sources said the investigators also took into account the findings of a vigilance and enforcement inquiry report on allegations against the HCA chief and others of harassing the SRH management for free tickets during IPL.

Based on a complaint by Dharam Gurava Reddy, general secretary of Telangana Cricket Association (TCA), filed on June 9, CID filed a case under Sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating) read with 34 (common intention). TCA is not recognised by BCCI. The complainant alleged president A Jagan Mohan Rao contested the HCA elections using a forged document. It was also alleged Rao, along with some HCA apex council members, misappropriated over Rs 2.3 crore from the association.

CID officials told TOI they discovered Rao had used a forged cricket club membership to qualify for the 2023 HCA elections. "Rao furnished a forged membership of Gowlipura Cricket Club to contest in the elections and won," said a CID official.

CID arrested Gowlipura Cricket Club president G Kavita and her husband Rajender Yadav, who is the general secretary of the club, for aiding Rao in committing the offence. CID officials also alleged that Rao, along with treasurer C J Srinivas Rao and CEO Suneel Kante, who are apex council members of HCA, misappropriated HCA funds under the guise of performing their official duties.

CID picked up Rao from his residence in Gachibowli, Srinivas from Padma Rao Nagarand Kante from Begumpet. Rajender Yadav and Kavita were taken into custody later in the night.

HCA had copped a lot of flak this IPL season over excessive demands for complimentary passes. SRH had alleged illtreatment by HCA and threatened to shift their operations out of the city. The team management alleged that as against the agreement of giving 3,900 complimentary passes to the association for every match — 10% of the stadium’s capacity — the HCA president was asking for 20 more passes. The issue even threatened to derail a match between SRH and LSG.