BCCI vs PCB: Shah announces Asia Cup at "neutral venue", Pakistan threatens World Cup pullout
Mumbai/Karachi (PTI): The Indian and Pakistan cricket boards put themselves on a collision course on Tuesday after BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the 2023 Asia Cup will be played at a neutral venue, prompting the neighbours to threaten a boycott of next year's ODI World Cup.
The hosting rights of the 2023 edition of the 50-over Asia Cup has been awarded to Pakistan by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) as a pre-cursor to the marquee World Cup in India.
Incidentally, Shah is the president of the Asian Cricket Council. The matter of India playing the Asia Cup in Pakistan was stated in the notes circulated to the BCCI members before Tuesday's Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai.
"We have decided to play at a neutral venue," Shah was quoted as saying by multiple cricket websites after the conclusion of the AGM.
One of the reasons cited for not playing in Pakistan was that there has been precedence in the past of the continental event being shifted at a neutral venue.
India hasn't travelled to Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup, and after the Mumbai terrorist attack on November 26 that year, the scheduled bilateral series in early 2009 was cancelled.
The other reason cited was the Sri Lankan team bus being attacked by terrorists in Lahore, after which no international team visited the country for more than a decade due to security reasons.
Pakistan did travel to India for a short six-match white-ball series in 2012, but in the last 10 years, there hasn't been any bilateral cricket. The two teams have only played each other at various ICC and ACC events.
The PCB is irked as international cricket has resumed in the country with all top nations like England, Australia, West Indies travelling there to play Tests and white-ball rubbers.
Sources close to PCB chairman Ramiz Raja indicated that one of the options that they are mulling after Shah's statement is to pull out of the 50-over ICC World Cup in India.
"The PCB is now prepared to take hard decisions and play hard ball because it is also aware that the ICC and ACC events will have to face commercial liabilities and losses if Pakistan does not play India in these multi-team events," a senior PCB source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
Pakistan last came to India for a short six-match white-ball bilateral series in 2012.
The PCB, when contacted, declined to give an official reaction to Shah's statement.
"We have nothing to say at the moment, but yes, we will look at things and take up this matter at appropriate forums like the ICC board meeting in Melbourne next month," a spokesperson said.
However, it has been learnt that the PCB chairman and other senior officials were very upset about the announcement by Shah.
"The PCB officials are surprised at the timing of Jay Shah's statement because there is still nearly a year to go before the Asia Cup is held in Pakistan in September 2023," an insider said.
He said the PCB was aware that the issue of India travelling to Pakistan for the Asia Cup was on the agenda at the BCCI AGM but didn't expect any announcement on this issue at this time.
"The PCB is wondering in what capacity has Jay Shah given the statement that the ACC will look to relocate the Asia Cup to UAE out of Pakistan, because the hosting rights were awarded by the executive board of the ACC, not the president," the PCB source said.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
