Narwal smashes all-time Pro Kabaddi League record, sold to 'UP Yoddha' for Rs 1.65 cr
Mumbai, (PTI): Talismanic raider Pardeep Narwal smashed an all-time record by becoming the highest-ever bought kabaddi player in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), after being bought by the 'UP Yoddha' for Rs 1.65 crore.
The 'UP Yoddha' bought Narwal on Monday, the second day of the PKL auction for the upcoming season 8, which will take place in December.
Pardeep continues to re-write history books, with his price tag now quashing that of another star raider Monu Goyat, who was bought by the 'Haryana Steelers' for Rs 1.51 crore in Season 6, stated a media release issued by the PKL late Monday night.
Narwal now finds himself a new home after spending five seasons with the 'Patna Pirates'.
Meanwhile, Siddharth Desai was retained by the 'Telugu Titans' via the Final Bid Match (FBM) card for Rs 1.30 crore from his base price of Rs 30 lakh.
More than 22 overseas players were sold on the second day.
All-rounder Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh (base price Rs 10 lakh), was sold to the 'Patna Pirates' for Rs 31 lakh, while the 'Bengal Warriors' bought defender Abozar Mohajermighani, bidding for him at Rs 30.5 lakh from the base price of Rs 20 lakh.
The 'Patna Pirates' used their FBM card to retain South Korean raider Jang Kun Lee at Rs 20.5 lakh, the release said.
After spending six seasons with the 'Telugu Titans' and one season with 'Tamil Thalaivas', Rahul Chaudhari will now play for the 'Puneri Paltans'.
The 'Jaipur Pink Panthers' used both the FBM cards to retain captain Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Kumar Dhull.
The 'Tamil Thalaivas' bid for raider Manjeet from his base price of Rs 30 lakh and bought him in for Rs 92 lakh.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Rohit Gulia grabbed eyeballs after he was sold to the 'Haryana Steelers' for Rs 83 lakh, a significant jump from his Rs 25-lakh price tag with the 'Gujarat Giants' in Season 7.
Kabaddi is such an elementary game in terms of infrastructure required, that I have no doubt that once we get our act together, the explosion of kabaddi internationally is just waiting to happen, Charu Sharma, co-founder of Mashal Sports, was quoted as saying in the release.
Top 5 Indian players: Pardeep Narwal Rs 1.65 crore -- UP Yoddha
Siddharth Desai Rs 1.30 crore -- Telugu Titans
Manjeet Rs 92 lakh -- Tamil Thalaivas
Sachin Rs 84 lakh -- Patna Pirates
Rohit Gulia Rs 83 lakh -- Haryana Steelers.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Excise scam: Delhi court discharges former CM Kejriwal, Sisodia, K Kavitha and 20 others
New Delhi (PTI): In a massive relief to the AAP's top leadership, a Delhi court on Friday discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his ex-deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the politically charged liquor policy case by refusing to take cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against them.
Among the 21 people given a clean chit in the case is Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.
Special Judge Jitendra Singh rapped the CBI for lapses in the investigation, saying that there was no cogent evidence against Kejriwal and there was no prima facie case against Sisodia and the other accused.
The CBI has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile AAP government's now-scrapped excise policy.
ALSO READ: Delhi court discharges Kejriwal, Sisodia in excise corruption case, rejects CBI chargesheet
Underscoring "some misleading averments", the judge said in his strongly worded statement that the voluminous chargesheet had several lacunas not corroborated by evidence or witnesses.
"... The chargesheet suffers from internal contradictions, striking at the root of conspiracy theory," he said.
He said that in the absence of any evidence, the allegations against Kejriwal could not be sustained and that the former chief minister was implicated without any cogent evidence.
This, the judge said, was inconsistent with the rule of law.
Regarding Sisodia, the judge said there was no material on record showing his involvement, nor was any recovery made from him.
The court underlined its finding of the absence of an overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy while observing that the federal agency's case did not withstand judicial scrutiny, especially when the CBI sought to construct a narrative of conspiracy onmere conjecture.
It also rapped the agency for building its case through approver statements.
"If such conduct is allowed, it would be a grave violation of the Constitutional principles. The conduct where an accused is granted pardon and then made an approver, his statements used to fill the gaps in the investigation/narrative and make additional people accused is wrong," the court said.
The other accused discharged are Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Goutam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gornatla, Rakesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Chanpreet Singh Rayat, Arvind Kumar Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur, and P Sarath Chadra Reddy.
