Anti-corruption unit to probe role of alleged corrupter in Meghalaya T20 League

Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA) secretary Naba Bhattacharjee said that Khetarpal was one of the people who had submitted a proposal to conduct the T20 tournament in the state but clarified that the MoU had not yet been signed.

“He (Khetarpal) came up with the proposal like others did but nothing has been finalised. No MoU has been signed. We have not taken any permission from the BCCI to conduct a T20 league. Our whole focus is on the forthcoming Ranji Trophy and other tournaments. The news report is false,” Bhattacharjee, who is also BCCI’s new area development convenor, said.

There was no mention of Khetarpal being under the scanner in 1999 for alleged match-fixing links in the news report, but a former BCCI official alerted the COA of his past.

COA chief Vinod Rai told The Indian Express that he has asked anti-corruption head Ajit Singh, former Rajasthan DGP, to probe if Khetarpal is involved in organising the T20 league.

“I have directed ACU chief to look into it. Also how is it that they say that they have our permission (to run a T20 League),” Rai told The Indian Express adding that the BCCI has not given the go-ahead for the tournament.
Khetarpal could not be contacted on Tuesday by The Indian Express. His mobile phone was switched off and he did not respond to messages on Facebook. Khetarpal had termed the cricketers’ allegations of him trying to bribe them as a ‘figment of imagination’. He has also said that he got a clean chit following investigation by Scotland Yard officials.

Meghalaya is one of the six North-Eastern states which will make their Ranji Trophy debut this season.

In 2016 during the launch of his book, ‘The Chosen One’, Khetarpal said: “The book is an effort to show my journey from a sports promoter and Bollywood producer to a spiritual speaker and how it brought a change in my life. I was running a sports management company prior to my name being dragged in the controversy and had approached Stephen Fleming and Chris Lewis for taking part in a charity match in India. I was in talks with Punjab Cricket Association and had gone to England to pursue players for the charity match and some professional contracts.”

The alleged offer from Khetarpal to Fleming is mentioned in the former New Zealand skipper’s biography Balance of Power.

In July this year the BCCI had issued guidelines to state units with regard to domestic T20 Leagues, which included anti-corruption measures and a clamp down on players and support staff from outside respective states.