Anirudh Chaudhry, the treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), becomes the first high-profile BCCI office-bearer to offer assistance independent probe panel in the alleged sexual harassment case against CEO Rahul Johri.
Earlier, the three-member independent probe panel had given a deadline of November 9 for anyone wishing to assist them in this case to email them. According to some media reports, the BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry has become the first high-profile BCCI office-bearer to come out for assisting in this case as he recently sent a mail to the probe panel.
A senior BCCI official confirmed this news by quoting to PTI, “Yes, Anirudh had emailed to the panel on Friday night itself offering to help them in the probe. He is the first high profile official who has come out in the open and mailed to the Committee.”
The official further added, “Earlier the Committee did not summon IPL petitioner Aditya Verma, who wanted to depose before the panel as they were not sure of his locus standi. Now a current office bearer has raised his hand and written an email. This is becoming serious now.”
Since Johri has been accused of sexual harassment, some insider and state associations have raised the concerns in that case. The former Indian captain and the present President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Sourav Ganguly was one of them to raise the concern in this case as he felt it damages BCCI’s image and he also felt unhappy how the Committee of Administrators (CoA) handled it.
According to India Today, Ganguly wrote to BCCI, “I don’t know how far it’s true, but the recent reports of harassment has really made the BCCI look very poorly.. more so the way it has been handled… The Committee of Administrators from four has come down to two and now the two seem to be divided.”
In the present two-member CoA, while the chief Vinod Rai has felt to form an independent panel to investigate on this matter before taking any decision, another member Diana Edulji has asked Johri to resign from his post.
