By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : A team of the vigilance department raided the office of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) Monday, three days after a corruption case was registered against the sports body, a senior official said.
The raid began around 11 a.m. with a large media contingent present at the office here.
“A team from Kochi is conducting a detailed investigation and is in the KCA office here going through the files,” Director General of Police (Vigilance) K.P. Somarajan told IANS.
Last week the state vigilance department at Kochi registered a case against 85 members which included office-bearers of the KCA after a cricket enthusiast complained to a special court about several incidents of corruption in the sports body, officials said.
Balaji Iyengar and two others sent copies of their complaints about alleged financial manipulation in the KCA to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
They also filed a petition with the vigilance court in Thrissur in November last year. Following the petition, the court asked the vigilance department to investigate the matter.
The vigilance officials are going through all the files connected to the two international one-day cricket matches played in Kochi in 2006 and 2008, officials said.
KCA secretary T.C. Mathew, an accused in the case blasted a section of the media who have been pursuing this issue. “Please stop this hounding, if I have committed any crime and if it is proved, I will go to jail,” Mathew said.
Iyengar, a chartered accountant by profession, recently formed the Kerala Cricketers Forum (KCF), a group of former cricketers from Kerala and cricket lovers, and demanded that the authorities immediately intervene and examine the KCA’s working.