Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by BJP MP Mr. Anurag Thakur, facing probe by state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, would be in trouble as agency found the sports body’s initially registered address in Kanpur bogus.
During a recent investigation, state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau found that the Kanpur address was bogus. A team led by assistant superintendent of police, Mr. Jograj Jariyal visited the Kanpur address.
Maintaining the anonymity, a senior officer of Sv and ACB told that the vigilance team had visited Kanpur and found that the office associated with the HPCA is fictitious and non-existent.
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, which is located in picturesque hill station of Dharamshala, was initially registered with the Registrar of Companies, in Kanpur on July 14, 2005. It was later shifted to a Chandigarh address in 2011.
Sources revealed that it would shortly verify the Chandigarh HPCA address as this body was registered under section 18(3) of Companies Act, 1956 . “HPCA has now got the company registered in Chandigarh. This address will also be investigated,” the official said.
Investigations against the HPCA started after Congress came to power in the state government last year in December.
Earlier this month, a cheating and misappropriation case was registered against the HPCA over alleged wrong-doings in allotment of land to the state’s sports body.
The disputed land, some 3 kms away from the stadium has been used by the HPCA to build a five-star residential complex called The Pavilion, which has 38 rooms, 32 huts and a high-tech gym. The HPCA website calls it the “exotic residential resort”.
The land was allotted when the BJP government, headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal, was in power in the state. Anurag Thakur, who is also Dhumal’s son, had alleged that the case against HPCA is politically motivated. Mr. Thakur is also a joint secretary in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Mr. Thakur had justified the move to change the HPCA’s entity from a society to a non-profit company under section 25 of the Companies Act of,1956.
“It was done only to save HPCA from the control of the state government, like most other cricket associations had done all over the country”, he said.
“We have registered as a company on no-profit, no-loss basis under section 25 of the Companies Act for promoting cricket activities. This was done with the permission of the BCCI”, Mr. Thakur said.
HPCA has sub-leased the residential complex of the stadium to a company for commercial use.
On July 26, two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, Mr. Deepak Sanan and Mr. R.S. Gupta, were charge-sheeted by the state government for allegedly allowing the change in the land-use for building the HPCA complex.
