The Central Bureau of Investigation has closed its investigation into complaints of financial irregularities at the Delhi & District Cricket Association, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
“A preliminary enquiry was registered in SC-II branch (of the CBI) on 23.10.2015 against unknown office bearers of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) and unknown others, on the basis of the complaint of Shri Kirti Azad, MP (Lok Sabha),” Dr Jitendra Singh, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions, informed the Parliament today.
“During the course of enquiry, various references/letters were received from the complainant and all the information/inputs provided by him were looked into by this branch.. The Preliminary Enquiry was closed in December, 2016 with the approval of Competent Authority,” Singh said.
Singh, however, did not specify whether the enquiry found any substantiation of the allegations.
The minister’s clarification came in response to a query by Kirti Azad seeking the details of the action taken by the CBI on his complaint. The minister’s response did not list any further action by the investigating agency on the matter, suggesting that it did not take the case further.
The allegations surrounding the DDCA hit the headlines recently after Aam Aadmi Party Supremo Arvind Kejriwal tendered a written apology to finance minister Arun Jaitley for alleging that he was involved in corruption and financial irregularities during his tenure as present of the association.
Kirti Azad was been suspended from the BJP after he alleged that there was a scam of Rs 400 cr around the financial management of the cricket association.
Jitendra Singh said CBI’s inquiry looked into allegations relating to misuse of public funds, utilizing the land of Ferozeshah Kotla ground with an expired lease, unauthorized construction, irregularities in purchase of items & non-observance of the provisions of Companies Act at the DDCA.
Soon after the case was registered, Azad and other ex-cricketers had also approached the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored probe into his allegations.
At the time, the High Court dismissed the complaint as ‘premature’ after the government argued that the CBI was engaged in investigating the allegations and had questioned 18 witnesses by then.