Himachal Cricket Association strongly condemns the baseless unverified
allegations on its President Mr. Anurag Thakur that he has close
unscruplous relations with Mr. Karan Gilhotra a suspected Bookie.
There are certain basic questions to be asked
1. Why the ICC letter was written on the eve of BCCI working Committee Meeting?
2. Mr. Karan Gilhotra worked with one of the IPL franchisee when Mr.
Srinivasan was the principal Office bearer of BCCI, was he a suspect
at that point of time also or subsequently he has been suspected to
have been involved in such activities?
3. When ICC didn’t release any suspected Bookie list to BCCI, how can
it write such a letter?
4. Why was the list of suspected Bookies not divulged to the Supreme
Court panel investigating match fixing in IPL matches?
All these questions clearly hint that the main motive of the
Srinivasan camp is to tarnish the image of Mr. Anurag Thakur who has
vowed to clean the BCCI and make it a more transparent and accountable
body. It is further evident from the timing of the letter written by
ICC that the opposition camp wants to shift the focus from Chennai
Super Kings demerger, on which legal opinion has already been sought
by BCCI.
Mr. Anurag Thakur is a youth icon and many people want to click
pictures with him and moreover the franchisee with whom Mr. Gilhotra
has served have organised many matches at Dharamshala as such there is
no point denying the fact that he is known to all of us and many more
BCCI and other state cricket association(s) officials.
This mere fact is not an iota of evidence to point fingers on a person
who has done wonders not only to Himachal Cricket but to various other
sporting organisations.
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association wants to suggest to Mr.
Srinivasan that the present BCCI setup has been democratically elected
for a period of three years and it should be allowed to function
democratically and such malicious activities are only going to tarnish
the image of the BCCI, which hit rock bottom when he was the president
of the body and at present needs a substantial face lift.
Lastly, I want to assure you that the entire Himachal Pradesh Cricket
Association stands united, like a rock, behind its President and I
also want to urge to the cricket loving public of the country and
state of Himachal that Mr. Anurag Thakur is a responsible Cricket
administrator and well aware of his responsibilities as such he will
never indulge in any such act which will bring disrepute to the game
of Cricket. This is entirely a malicious and frivolous attack by his
detractors who cannot digest his becoming elected Secretary of BCCI
from such a small hill state despite their opposition.