March 27, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

MUMBAI, March 26: Jagmohan Dalmiya, former BCCI president, charged with misappropriating Rs29 million during his tenure, was on Wednesday arrested and released soon after on bail.

The Economic Offences Wing of the city police filed an over 5,500-page charge-sheet against Dalmiya and two others after investigating the case filed by the Indian cricket board.

The case was filed on March 16, 2006 after Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar took over as the President of BCCI.

Both Dalmiya and his secretary K.M. Choudhary, who were earlier given anticipatory bail by the Mumbai High Court, were asked to be present at the Crime Branch where they were arrested and released soon after on bail as per the High Court order. The bail was given on a cash bond of Rs25,000.

According to the police, Dalmiya, Choudhary and one Gautam Dutta diverted funds meant for fighting 64 legal cases slapped by the Income Tax authorities on PILCOM (the organising committee of the 1996 cricket World Cup jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) towards other expenses.

However, Dalmiya’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde rejected these charges.

“This is political vendetta. Everyone knows at whose behest the investigation is being carried out. Those who have toed the line of BCCI are being spared,” Maneshinde told reporters after the charge-sheet.

Police have also said that between 1997 and 2000, Dalmiya was chief of the ICC and that of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) from 2004 to 2006 and the respective bodies should have had taken care of his expenses like travelling and hotel stay during this period.

Dalmiya, Choudhary and Dutta have been booked for criminal breach of trust, forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

—Agencies