AIFF asks its former legal head to submit evidence against allegations made
Mar 07, 2024
New Delhi [India], March 8 The All India Football Federation on Thursday wrote a letter to its former Head of Legal, Nilanjan Bhattacharjee, asking him to furnish evidence against his allegations that "dummy cameras" were used for the production of the I-League 2022-23 matches.
In a letter to Bhattacharjee, the AIFF Acting Secretary General, M Satyanarayan, said as quoted from AIFF, "It has come to our attention that you have made serious allegations regarding the production of the I-League matches, specifically claiming that dummy cameras were utilized by the vendor responsible for the production."
"As you are aware, such allegations are of utmost concern to us and must be thoroughly investigated to maintain the integrity of our competitions. However, in order to proceed with any investigation or take appropriate action, it is imperative that we have concrete evidence to substantiate these claims," he stated.
"Therefore I am kindly requesting you to provide us with any evidence or documentation you may have regarding the use of dummy cameras during the production of the I-League 2022-23 matches. This evidence could include but is not limited to, photographs, videos, witness statements, or any other relevant materials that support your allegations," he added.
Satyanarayan said that the evidence should be submitted no later than March 9, 2024, since failure to provide sufficient evidence by this deadline may result in the inability to take further action on this matter.
Earlier, in a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhattacharjee had alleged that AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey made attempts to "syphon off money from the federation's exchequer" and used the AIFF fund for personal expenses.
"...through coercion and at his own subservient interest, allotted numerous tenders such as broadcasting of I-League (last season), IWL, Santosh Trophy in favour of one company, which happens to be close to the incumbent president," Bhattacharjee wrote in the letter.
"Further tenders running into crores were allotted to the same service provider for broadcasting of futsal and other such tournaments," he wrote in the letter, a copy of which was also marked to Home Minister Amit Shah and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
