India football coach Bob Houghton denied the racial abuse charges leveled against him by the All India Football Federation, terming them "baseless", in a written submission made before a three-member panel of the national federation.
He appeared before the panel, comprising AIFF vice-presidents Subrata Dutta, Ankur Dutta and senior executive committee member C R Viswanathan, and made a written submission to charges levelled against him, including that of allegedly abusing an Indian referee last year.
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das, as ex-offico member, was also present at the hearing, held at the federation's headquarters in Delhi.
The hearing lasted less than 30 minutes.
Houghton made a written submission to the charges in a show cause notice issued on him on March 26.
The panel said it will resume proceedings at a later date, as its members need time to study his reply.
It is learnt that Houghton, who was accompanied at the hearing by Delhi-based advocate Anish Dayal, denied the racial abuse charge. The panel asked him to appear again later, April 20 being the tentative date.
"The panel will have to study Houghton's reply and they have asked him to appear at a later date. The date will be decided by the panel and it will be informed to Houghton. But he has denied the racial abuse charges in his submissions," a top source said.
Dayal said his client has a strong case and has submitted that all the charges against him are "baseless".
"We have denied all the charges levelled against the coach. We have submitted that all of the charges are baseless. We are expecting a fair decision.
"We have not mentioned anything about giving evidence against the charges. We will wait what the panel says in further proceedings," said Dayal, who is also counsel for Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals.
After the hearing is completed, the panel is expected to give its recommendations on action to be taken, if any, to the executive committee, which will take a final decision.
Early last month, the executive committee decided to initiate the process to sack Houghton on charges including remarks against referee Dinesh Nair during India's friendly against Yemen in Pune last October and "derogatory" comments against Indian football.
The Englishman is accused by Nair of calling him 'b****** Indian referee'. He was issued a show-cause notice on March 26 asking why action should not be taken against him on several counts, ironically hours after he guided India to the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup final rounds. Houghton denied the charge and players of the Indian team too sent a signed letter to AIFF president Praful Patel in support of the coach.
Houghton, who took over the senior Indian team in June 2006, is the first manager of the national football team to be issued a show cause notice by the AIFF.
Photograph: Reuters
