On leave, Rahul Johri sends BCCI emails
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri may have been officially sent on leave after he was accused of sexual assault but it is learnt that he is still sending official e-mails, even though it is in contempt of the Supreme Court's Vishaka Guidelines against Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.
Johri, who was forced to go on leave pending inquiry by the three-member committee appointed by the Committee of Administrators (COA), has been sending official emails to BCCI office-bearers.
In one such email, which is in possession of DNA, Johri wrote to the Board's office-bearers – acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry – about renewal of a bank fixed deposit earlier this week.
There have been more such instances wherein Johri has been sending emails to all office-bearers just to keep them in the loop regarding the happenings in the BCCI. It has also been learnt that in most of the replies from the office-bearers, Johri's name has been deleted.
Johri has been asked to go on leave ever since COA member Diana Edulji sought his removal after charges of sexual assualt surfaced against the BCCI CEO by an anonymous person on social media.
COA chief Vinod Rai, however, overruled her demand and appointed a three-member panel comprising Justice (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, former chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, Barkha Singh, and lawyer Veena Gowda to probe the allegations.
However, Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma has said that the committee is asking the whistle-blowers to first establish their "bona fide", a response he got when he sent a letter to the committee to allow him to depose before it.
"The committee has been asking me to prove my bona fide," Verma said.
"One of the conditions laid down by the committee is: 'Whether a person willing to depose is the husband/ relative/ friend of the complainant. Whether the person is, in any way, connected with the Board'," he added.
Taking exception to this, BCCI treasurer Chaudhary shot off an email to the committee on Friday evening.
"Please call me in person to meet with the Committee. Also, call all the office-bearers and individuals who comprised the senior management of the BCCI in the last quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 to present themselves before the Committee," Chaudhary's email stated.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the three-member panel has asked the BCCI office-bearers willing to depose to come and present themselves next week, with the day and time yet to be mutually decided.
from Daily News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2PnCRKy
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