Police bust 'pay and play' racket in Ranji cricket

According to reports, 11 Delhi cricketers paid around Rs 1 crore to two coaches who promised them opportunity to play Ranji Trophy cricket.

The Delhi Police have brought to light a case of 'pay and play' where players have been asked to pay money to officials to play Ranji Trophy cricket.

According to reports, about 11 cricketers from Delhi paid around Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore to two coaches as they were promised an opportunity to play Ranji Trophy cricket.

The bribe was to be delivered to a shoe shop in Karol Bagh that reportedly has business links with an official in the Nagaland Cricket Association.

BCCI logo. Photograph: Arko Datta/Reuters/File

According  to IANS, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) have tried to play things down saying that all is under control and that the Anti-Corruption unit of the board are keeping tabs on all player signings, especially in the nine new teams introduced last season and have neglected the General Body of the BCCI completely.

"This is what we had warned against at different forums. The BCCI cannot absolve itself from this mess by statements which are an eyewash since every player is registered by the BCCI and the team sitting in the BCCI office," a senior BCCI official told IANS.

"The mid-season change of rules of eligibility by the CoA is another case in point. In the case of Puducherry as well, there were so many outside players who were given the go ahead by the BCCI and rules were bent. They were suspended later. What is curious is that why was no action taken against Puducherry officials and BCCI employees? That needs to be investigated by the police. Why is it that some people are being given preferential treatment by the CoA and BCCI employees?

"While it is Nagaland in this case, someone in the BCCI seems to have really favoured someone in Puducherry for some reason also. That needs to be investigated by the police as well," the official clarified.

"Even in the case of Chandigarh now, some patterns are repeating and the CoA seems to be favouring a couple of individuals. This is really serious."

When the Puducherry episode broke out, BCCI GM Cricket Operations Saba Karim had said, "Ajit Singh -- head of the BCCI ACU -- has been informed about the issue of player transfers and attempts to use unfair means. If the team finds any player or association using unfair ways, action will be taken."