Azad, Bedi depose before panel

Former cricketers Kirti Azad, Bishan Singh Bedi, Surinder Khanna and Sameer Bahadur on Saturday made statements in front of a special inquiry committee formed by the Delhi Legislative Assembly to probe alleged irregularities and corruption in the DDCA.

The cricketers deposed as witnesses in front of the nine-member committee, whose proceedings were made open to the media for the first time. This triggered a sharp response from the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party.

The committee, headed by AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, was formed after a resolution was passed by the state Assembly on June 13.

Suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad alleged that he wrote several letters to the Delhi Police, Central Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Corporate Affairs about the irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) but all of them went unanswered.

“One can say that we ran from pillar to post but achieved nothing,” he said, alleging the embezzlement amounted to at least Rs 300 crore.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta alleged that the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is hatching a conspiracy to defame Finance Minister Arun Jaitley through specially created unconstitutional inquiry committee and by making it public to the media.

“Having found the doors of courts now closed in the defamation case, he has now taken recourse to the method of making public the proceedings of the committee. The DDCA is constituted under the Company Affairs. It is clearly a subject lying under the jurisdiction of the Centre. Kejriwal’s government being a state government cannot intervene in the matter,” Gupta said