‘BCCI didn’t snoop, only tried to stop hacking’
The controversy over alleged snooping by the Indian cricket board on some of its officials has taken a new turn. A former BCCI official has now claimed that the board, headed by N Srinivasan then, never spied on its members but it was just a reaction to a curious case of hacking problem that had surfaced after Lalit Modi’s ouster from the board.
The current officials in the Indian board are trying to get to the bottom of the matter. Anurag Thakur, BCCI’s newly-elected secretary, has issued a reminder notice to the former interim board president Shivlal Yadav and former secretary Sanjay Patel, asking them to provide the details of expenses incurred on information technology. Thakur has shot out the letter twice, on May 5 and May 9, to the former office bearers but hasn’t received a reply yet.
However, a former official, in know of the developments in the case, told The Indian Express that the board didn’t spy but were trying to sort out a hacking problem after former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was ousted and subsequently expelled from the BCCI in 2013. According to the official, it was then that the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suggested that the BCCI hire the services of an England-based company, which provides services to many government agencies in the United States of America.
It is learnt that ECB too had faced a similar hacking issue in the past and on the sidelines of an ICC meeting, they advised BCCI to hire the services of the well-known anti-hacking company. “There had been many instances when we sent internal mails and after few minutes we saw tweets about it,” the BCCI official said on condition of anonymity. “A London based company was hired to protect BCCI’s mails and there was no spying.”
It’s been speculated in media that the board spent $900,000 on the same but the official rubbished that claim.
“We never spent so much money as has been quoted in the media. It was done to protect the BCCI.”
HC summons Abdullah
By: Mir Ehsan
Srinagar: The High Court issued a notice to president Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah in a scam involving crores of rupees. Earlier notices had been served to other members of the JKCA involved in the scam. However, as Abdullah was out of the country for kidney transplant operation, he couldn’t be summoned earlier. Chief justice NN Paul Vasantakumar issued the notice to Abdullah.
