New twist in the tale as Kumar fires an email

KOLKATA: Having been served a 'cease to work' notice on Sunday via an email, Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) secretary Sanjay Kumar hit back at the association's CEO Sudhir Kumar Jha with a scathing mail of his own, on Monday, questioning the veracity of his termination from work and terming it 'full of contradiction'.
The mail, a copy of which is in possession of TOI, has been addressed to Jha along with the association's joint secretary Kumar Arvind.In the mail, Kumar has questioned why he has been addressed as an erstwhile secretary while he has been restrained from discharging his duties after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday. " As it appears the general body in its meeting dated 31st January 2020 has been pleased to restrain me from discharging my duties as secretary, therefore I am still the secretary without any power, as such I should not be addressed as erstwhile secretary," the statement from Kumar read.
While representatives of the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) Amikar Dayal and Kavita Roy were barred from entering the AGM in Ara along with Kumar preceding the furore, the latter stated that he could only be called an erstwhile secretary if the general body had terminated him after the meeting. Kumar further added that while he has been asked to hand over the cheque book and passwords of the website and the official email, neither does he possess the cheque book nor has been told who to hand over the password to the mail.
The secretary, however, chose to refrain from making any comments against the allegations made against him regarding conflict of interest, rather choosing to defend himself in front of any committee or the general body of the association. "Through your email, it has been stated that showcause notice shall be issued to me separately. Therefore I am not making any comment with respect of charges /allegation labeled against me in your email under reply. However I am ready to defend myself against any charges which could be/have been levelled against me before any committee and general body of BCA."
Asking for a copy on the AGM, Kumar, reposed his faith upon BCA president Rakesh Tiwari against whom he had supposedly issued a legal notice for quoting a wrong sum of expenditure for the previous year. Earlier on Sunday, he had refused to accept the legitimity of the mail from the CEO. "I have the mail but is there any signature of Sudhir Kumar Jha at the end? How am I supposed to understand that this is an authentic letter whereas no signature has been attached and neither have I been informed by the association," Kumar had stated.
He had further added, "Hotel Aditya Inn, where the AGM was called, belongs to joint-secretary Kumar Arvind. Is it given in our constitution that the AGM can take place in an office bearer's property? This is a case of conflict of interest. I have already reported this to BCCI, including ICA president Ashok Malhotra and Syed Saba Karim (head of cricket operations, BCCI)," Kumar said, while reiterating that he was not treating the mail from BCA as termination from his post as the secretary.
(With inputs from Gaurav Gupta)