The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya on charges of allegedly misappropriating Rs.2.9 crores for his personal expenses from one of the board’s accounts.Dalmiya was taken into custody at the Crime Branch headquarters in Crawford Market along with his secretary KM Chaudhary, both of whom had earlier been granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court. They were released soon after their arrest on a cash bond of Rs.25,000.The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) also filed a chargesheet against Dalmiya, Chaudhary and one Gautam Dutta, on charges of criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy. The case had been filed on March 16, 2006 after Sharad Pawar took over as the BCCI chief.Terming the arrest and case filed against Dalmiya as ‘political vendetta’, his lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “Everyone knows at whose behest all this being done. While the arrest formalities were being carried out, the concerned officers were constantly getting phone calls for updates on how things were going. “It is anybody’s guess as to who it might have been on the other end. This is being done because Mr.Dalmiya voted against one of the candidates in the BCCI presidential elections in the past. Those who have toed the line of the BCCI have been spared.”Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate RN Wankhede, who was hearing the case in the Esplanade Court, adjourned the matter till April 11 and directed Dalmiya to be present on the given date. The court will also hear a plea submitted by Maneshinde, seeking exemption from court appearances for Dalmiya, when the matter is heard next.5,500-page chargesheetAccording to the 5,500-page chargesheet filed by the EOW, Dalmiya, Chaudhary and Dutta were involved in diverting funds from an INDCOM account opened by the BCCI in the Bhowanipore branch of the Indian Overseas Bank, Kolkata. The INDCOM account was meant for fighting 64 cases filed by the Income Tax department on the running of a PILCOM account opened in London by the organising committee of the 1996 Cricket World Cup, which was jointly hosted by the Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan boards.According to the police, the account had to be operated only by the secretary or treasurer of the BCCI. Dalmiya ceased to be secretary in July 1997, when he took over as the chief of the International Cricket Council, but continued to operate the account by allegedly giving the bank a copy of a forged resolution of the BCCI.According to the chargesheet, between July 1997 and 2006, Dalmiya withdrew money from the account for paying hotel expenses (Rs 24.56 lakh), telephone bills (Rs 85.54 lakh), stationery and car rentals (Rs 38.82 lakh), and travel expenses and foreign exchange (Rs 53.41 lakh). Phone billsThe police said some funds were used for paying the telephone bills of companies floated by Dalmiya, his personal phones, and one registered in his mother’s name. Reacting to these charges, Maneshinde said, “This is very normal. Even the late Madhavrao Scindia’s bills were paid in this manner when he was the BCCI chief.” According to the police, the registration numbers of vehicles said to be hired by the BCCI turned out to be of two-wheelers, while SG Traders (a company floated by Dutta) was not able to establish the purchase of stationery supposedly for supply to the BCCI. Further, Choudhary operated the account and made withdrawals in spite of not being authorised to operate it, the chargesheet said.The police have also said that between 1997 and 2000, Dalmiya was chief of the ICC and that of the Asian Cricket Council from 2004-06, and the respective bodies should have taken care of his expenses like travel and hotel stay during these periods. According to Maneshinde, the accounts for which Dalmiya is being investigated by the police were passed in the BCCI’s Annual General Meetings when Niranjan Shah and IS Bindra were in the board.
