'BCCI is cricket board # 420'

Medha Patkar-led body lodges cheating complaint against board for using indoor cricket facility at Wankhede for illegal IPL and BCCI offices

Medha Patkar-led body lodges cheating complaint against board for using indoor cricket facility at Wankhede for illegal IPL and BCCI offices

Senior police officers are investigating whether the use of a part of the indoor cricket facility at Wankhede stadium as commercial headquarters of BCCI and IPL is legal.

Amit Maru of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA) led by activist Medha Patkar lodged a complaint with Marine Drive police station yesterday that termed the use of the indoor stadium by BCCI and IPL as illegal.
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The GBGBA obtained details concerning the use of the reserved land through an application to the BMC under the provisions of the Right to Information Act.

GBGBA advocate Y P Singh told MiD DAY that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had obtained permission to construct an indoor cricket stadium on land reserved for a recreation ground.
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BREAKING THE LAW? According to a 1991 notification, some land at Wankhede stadium cannot be used for commercial purposes.

"The Coastal Zone Notification, 1991, stipulates that land reserved as recreation ground cannot be used for any activity other than sports, but the IPL is using the land for an office that is used to strike commercial deals with various agencies. We have asked the BMC to initiate action against BCCI.
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It is a cognisable offence under sections 154, 419 and 420 of the IPC, which relate to cheating," said Singh.

N Srinivasan, secretary, BCCI and Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL, have also been named in the complaint.

Inspector M C Inamdar of the Marine Drive police station confirmed that a complaint against BCCI was registered on Monday evening.

"The case is being referred to the officer in-charge of crime and the law department before action is initiated," said Inamdar.

The decision to use reserved land for commercial purposes reportedly came after the BCCI decided to shift their headquarters from Kolkata to Mumbai in 2005.

The Other Side

Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer, BCCI, who is named in the GBGBA complaint, said, "I don't respond to the media. I will see when I am officially intimated."