By IANS,
The minister said he would take action against corruption in the hockey federation even as the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) called an emergency meeting to discuss the fallout of the incident.
“I believe in the totality of the situation. The IHF president must also introspect and review his position. In full consideration of the situation facing Indian hockey and the national need, I urge him to consider withdrawing from his current responsibility,” M.S. Gill said in a statement.
“It is time to let other Indians make an attempt to lift our hockey.”
Headlines Today channel in a sting operation Monday night showed Jothikumaran accepting money to include an unnamed player in the national team for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia next month.
Jothikumaran was shown agreeing to include the player on insistence of some people whose faces were not shown on camera.
The channel showed Jothikumaran receiving Rs.200,000 in cash and then asking for Rs.300,000 more to be given to his “man” in New Delhi in return for the favour. The channel claimed that the money was handed over to him in a hotel ín New Delhi in two instalments April 10 and 11.
The sports minister said he did not agree with the IHF president’s statement that Jothikumaran could be reinstated if he is cleared of corruption charges.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in a statement Tuesday strongly condemned the incident and called for a meeting next Monday to discuss corruption in the IHF.
“The IOA strongly condemns the alleged incident of Jothikumaran. An emergency meeting of the executive committee of IOA has been convened at 3 p.m. on Monday to look into this matter and take necessary action in the interest of sports,” IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said here.
Kalmadi said that he would also try to meet the sports minister.
The sting operation comes just a month after the Indian men’s team failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in 80 years. India, which has won eight Olympic gold medals, failed to win a qualifying tournament in Chile last month to make it to the Beijing Olympics.
When contacted, IHF president K.P.S. Gill refused to comment on the issue. He said: “I will not say anything at this moment. I will call a press conference in two-three days.”
Significantly, the International Hockey Federation has provisionally allotted the 2010 World Cup to Delhi. It remains to be seen if the fate of the World Cup would now be affected by this exposé.
The sting operation also showed Jothikumaran taking the channel’s investigation team members to K.P.S. Gill’s Delhi residence and also the face of the IHF president talking animatedly. But there was no sound accompanying the pictures of Gill.
The channel also aired transcripts of a telephone conversation in which Jothikumaran is heard promising the caller that he would try to get the player included in the senior India team.