AI suspend Nabeel

Ever since his ouster from the club in January 2010, Air India officials have maintained that Ghosh is a negative influence on the players. After an I-League match between Air India and Pune FC, Nabeel travelled from the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune to the city centre in the same car in which Ghosh was travelling, and that did not go down well with club officials.

Ghosh was one of the guests for that March 4 match between the two sides and handed the Man-of-the-Match award. Ghosh’s presence   prompted the Air India officials to lodge a complaint with Western India Football Association (WIFA). “The club officials gave me a letter stating that I have been indisciplined and questioned as to why did I travel back with Bimal from Pune. I explained to them that it wasn’t intentional on my part but they refused to believe.

“They asked me to write a letter wherein I must apologise and they would drop the charges against me. As soon as I submitted the letter, they did a U-turn and said that now since I have accepted my mistake, they are to suspend me with immediate effect,” Nabeel said.

Narrating the incident, he said, “After the game when I was looking to go back to the city as Balewadi is pretty much out of the main Pune city, a resident of the Air India colony saw me and offered to drop me back.

“It was only when I entered the car that I saw Ghosh there. Thereafter, I traveled to Kolhapur with the squad. However coach Santosh Kashyap informed me at the breakfast that the club officials want to see me as soon as possible as I had interacted with our former coach.”

Nabeel, who is yet to receive his dues for the last two months, is set to approach the Football Players’ Association of India (FPAI) to seek justice