By IANS
Kolkata : West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakroborty Wednesday termed the defalcation charges brought against former Indian cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya as “baseless” and a ploy to harass him.
“Not a single charge against Dalmiya is acceptable and it is not for the first time that he has been subjected to harassment,” Chakraborty said.
Mumbai Police filed a charge-sheet against Dalmiya Wednesday for allegedly misappropriating Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) funds to the tune of Rs.29 million.
Dalmiya was arrested in Mumbai Wednesday and immediately released on bail of Rs.25,000.
“The charges are baseless and untrue. It is just a ploy to harass him,” said Chakroborty, known to be close to Dalmiya.
The maverick minister has come out in support of Dalmiya time and again. He even went against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee’s nominee Prasun Mukherjee to support Dalmiya for the election to the post of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president in 2006.
Asked if the state government would allow the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) to hold matches at the Eden Garden here, Chakraborty said: “If they want, we will give them the ground. We are not loyal servants of the BCCI.”