Seeking to put further pressure on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, banned Indian Hockey Federation president K P S Gill on Wednesday dragged him into the affairs of Hockey India, urging the Delhi government to probe into the Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart's 'conflict of interest' in the national hockey body.
Former top cop Gill has written to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that Jaitley had appointed his daughter Sonali as the counsel for Hockey India when he was a member of the advisory board of the Hockey India League.
Hockey India president Narinder Batra, however, strongly refuted the allegations, saying Gill’s charges were 'baseless'.
Batra said it was just a 'creation' by the banned IHF chief to settle scores with him.
Batra admitted that Jaitley's daughter Sonali fought one of the many cases for the HI for a very brief period, but just as a professional and it was unfair to attach any motives.
"At the time about which K P S Gill is talking, we had a number of cases to fight. To be precise we had 22 cases to fight in that period in different places of the country, so we had to hire a lot of lawyers and lot of law firms. Jaitley and Bakshi firm was one of them. The money that went to them was hardly 2 per cent. So, I don’t know where the conflict of interest comes from," Batra told reporters.
"I just can't give my cases to anybody. I have to hire somebody who is a professional and whom I know. All my dealings and balance-sheets are on the HI website," he added.
"It's all Gill sahab's creation. I don’t know what he has against me. I am not worried, we come under the Right to Information Act," he asserted.
It is a fresh attack on Jaitley, who has been accused by the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress and BJP MP Kirti Azad of 'shielding corruption' when he was the president of Delhi and District Cricket Association.
Gill's allegations came a day after the Delhi assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday to set up a commission of inquiry over the alleged irregularities in the DDCA.
IHF secretary Ashok Mathur confirmed the development, saying the letter was sent to Kejriwal two days ago.
"Yes, Mr Gill has written to the Delhi chief minister urging him to investigate Mr Jaitley’s conflict of interest in the HI. As the HI is registered under Registrar of Societies, Delhi, the Delhi government has every right to investigate into the complaint," Mathur said.
Jaitley has earlier sued six people, including Kejriwal, for Rs 10 crore in a defamation suit for their comments that the DDCA had seen corruption when it was under Jaitley.
The suit, however, did not include Azad, who has been at the forefront of allegations of corruption in the DDCA under Jaitley's watch.
