Two senior Goa Cricket Association officials suspended by BCCI for financial fraud

Two senior Goa Cricket Association officials – Chetan Desai and Vinod Phadke – have been suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for allegations of financial fraud. The board announced its decision after Desai, Phadke and GCA treasurer Akbar Mulla were arrested by police earlier this week for the alleged crime.

On Wednesday, Desai, Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla were arrested by Goa police for alleged misappropriation of over Rs 3 crore belonging to the organisation.

“Given the serious nature of the allegations, the BCCI has decided to investigate the said allegations as well,” a Board statement said.

Interestingly, both Desai and Phadke hold important positions in the BCCI. While Desai is the chairman of the Board’s Marketing Committee, Phadke is a member of the Information and Technology Committee of the BCCI.

The Goa Police had registered a case against the three accused under sections 408, 409 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 463, 464, 468 (forged documents), 471 (fraud), 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. A first information report (FIR) had been filed against the trio by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the police on June 4.

According to Shekhar Salkar, the acting president of the Goa Cricket Association between November 2014 and June 2015, a fake account, in the name of GCA, was opened in the Panjim branch of Development Credit Bank on April 10, 2007.

The FIR mentions that Desai, Phadke and Mulla withdrew INR 26 lakh from Federal Bank account of the GCA on the “pretext” of giving it to a company sports goods company ‘HA KO’ enterprise. However, it was later, found that no such transaction was done.