HYDERABAD: The crime investigation department (CID) has been probing several cases of alleged misappropriation of funds involving members of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) since 2011. With the recent arrest of five people, including the association’s president A Jagan Mohan Rao, treasurer CJ Srinivas Rao and CEO Suneel Kante, a total of eight cases have been filed against HCA office bearers. Five cases are currently under investigation, and three are awaiting trial.Former Indian captain Md Azharuddin, Test cricketers Arshad Ayub and Shivlal Yadav, Congress MLA G Vinod, and the current HCA secretary R Devraj, who is absconding in the latest case, are among those accused in these investigations.In 2011, C Babu Rao Sagar, secretary of Sagar Cricket Club, D Manikyam, representative of Roshan Ara Recreation Club, and Aijaj Ali Qureishi, secretary of Shalimar Cricket Eleven Club, filed separate petitions with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court, alleging various instances of fund misappropriation by HCA office-bearers.The court referred these complaints to the ACB, which led to the central investigation unit (CIU) registering two first information reports (FIRs) in 2011. The first case registered on the complaint of C Babu Rao Sagar, accused HCA office bearers, Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub, DS Chalapathi, Naresh Sharma, P Yadagiri, and others. The petitioner accused the HCA office bearers of inflating the construction costs of the RGI Cricket Stadium at Uppal from 30.26 crore to 108 crore, alleging willful negligence and kickbacks from the successful bidder. The petitioner claimed that HCA paid 910 per bucket chair instead of the market rate of 450, resulting in an excess payment of over 2 crore to the supplier.The second case registered on the complaint of D Manikyam, accused Shivlal Yadav, P Yadagiri, Arshad Ayub, K John Manoj, G Vinod, and others of misappropriating funds for the construction of the RGI Cricket Stadium, and the purchase of floodlights, refrigerators, generators, and bowling machines.A third FIR filed in 2014, on the complaint of Aijaj Ali Qureishi, accused Arshad Ayub, DS Chalapathi, K John Manoj, G Vinod, R Devraj, Naresh Sharma and others in the alleged wilful collusion to award contracts for constructing canopies at two stands of the RGI Cricket Stadium in Uppal, causing a loss of over 3 crore to HCA.Chargesheets were filed between 2016 and 2020 against the accused in the ACB special court in Nampally. All three cases are currently pending trial due to a stay on proceedings from the high court.In Oct 2023, four additional criminal cases were filed based on a complaint by HCA CEO Suneel Kante. These cases accuse former HCA office bearers, including President Md Azharuddin, Secretary R Vijay Anand, and Treasurer Surender Agarwal, of misappropriating 3.85 crore of HCA funds used for purchasing equipments for the RGI Cricket Stadium in Uppal.
