CBI, I-T department lack
co-ordination: Dalmiya

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Former International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya said on Tuesday that the Central Bureau of Investigation and income-tax department, both government agencies, lacked co-ordination.

At a news conference at the Cricket Association of Bengal, Dalmiya said that the agony and harassment meted out to him and his family could have been avoided had CBI personnel employed a little prudence while undertaking raids for papers pertaining to the ICC knockout tournament 1998.

"The CBI could have asked for papers related to the television rights, instead of undertaking such an exercise. A bit of co-ordination with the IT department would have helped the investigating agency immensely, for all papers are in the latter's possession for four months. The agony to my wife and son was unnecessary. If I have committed a blunder by running the cricket administration, only I should have faced punishment and not my innocent family members," Dalmiya remarked.

He denied that his failure to produce papers before the CBI sleuths on Monday smacked of highhandedness in wiping out evidence. According to him, the papers sought by the agency were under scrutiny with the IT department, which took away the documents on July 20.

Dalmiya said that he had applied to the IT department for copies of the documents, especially those in connection with the Wills international tournament in Dhaka.

Dalmiya assured all co-operation to the CBI, saying that as a former head of the ICC, he was liable to answer any misdeed during his tenure. He, however, made it clear that his co-operation should not be misconstrued as attempts to prove his innocence.

"I don't think I have committed any wrong-doings. I would only be co-operating with them primarily because I feel it is the duty of every Indian in a democratic country to be co-operative with such agencies,' he added.

In its raids on Dalmiya's house and office, the CBI authorities had sought correspondence that Doordarshan had entered with Stracon, UTV and WorldTel in various sporting events besides criket. Dalmiya had expressed inability to furnish the papers, saying he was not connected with the agencies or events.

Dalmiya said he would never allow his son to be associated with cricket as an administrator ''after the series of humiliations that me and my family have been constantly exposed to in the past few months''.

Dalmiya stated that there was no financial embezzlement either by the ICC or IDI with regard to telecast rights of the ICC knockout tournament in 1998. He said that, if necessary, he would release the documents related to TV rights to the media so that the world could be witness to the truth.

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Mail Cricket Editor