March 29, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

MUMBAI, March 28: Jagmohan Dalmiya, former chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has been charged with misappropriating funds, police said here on Friday.

The police said Dalmiya, 67, was charged with misappropriating money from a bank account he operated for the 1996 World Cup that was jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Dalmiya, the Indian cricket board’s secretary then, was chief organiser of the 1996 World Cup, and went on to become the first Asian president of the ICC.

After his tenure as ICC chief finished, Dalmiya returned to become president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but his group of officials was ousted from power in a bitterly contested election in 2005.

On a complaint from the current board officials, police investigators discovered alleged misappropriation of nearly $720,000.

Dalmiya, who was granted bail by a Mumbai court, filed a separate complaint for perjury against cricket board officials in Kolkata.

The Kolkata High Court on Friday took up the perjury case for allegedly submitting false documents and posted the matter for hearing on April 18.—AP