Neeraj Kumar has said that he was aware of the sexual harassment complaint filed by a female employee.
With Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) top officials keeping an eerie silence over complainant of sexual harassment against a top employee, the then chief of board’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) Neeraj Kumar has said that he was aware of the sexual harassment complaint filed by a female employee.
“It was not as if I was officially involved in the whole thing, but yes, I was in the know of things that a case of sexual harassment has been reported in BCCI,” Kumar, who is the former Delhi Police Commissioner, told DNA.
Kumar was heading BCCI’s ACSU till the start of Indian Premier League on April 7 this year, and subsequently was retained as an ‘Advisor’ till May 31 to oversee the conduct of the cash-rich tournament.
Even a top IPL official admitted that there were efforts to cover up the issue.
On condition of anonymity, the official said, “The matter (sexual harassment case) was hushed up not just to save the top official but also to save the IPL from controversy.
“I remember, during one of the IPL meetings, this sexual harassment case came into the informal discussion. It was then advised to brush it under the carpet to ensure no negative publicity in the run up to such a high profile tournament,” the senior BCCI official added.
Asked whether why this matter was not taken up after the completion of IPL, the official said: “After the completion of IPL, I have been kept at a distance by Committee Of Administrators (CoA) regarding any BCCI developments.”
Kumar, however, also claimed that the board did not follow guidelines laid down by the law in the matter of sexual harassment at a work place.
“At the point this case was reported (February 12 when a female employee tendered her resignation alleging sexual harassment), there was no committee in the board to deal with such cases.
“And subsequently when BCCI’s own complaint committee was formed (in April), everyone knows in the BCCI that the accused’s right hand (someone close to the accused) was made a part of the committee,” revealed the former top cop.
The BCCI’s own complaint committee was formed under Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act 2013, on April 20, 2018, with Karina Kripalani as presiding officer. Veena Gowda, former player Saba Karim and Rupawati Rao were the three other members.
DNA has earlier reported about a letter by Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma to the CoA in which he has claimed that the CoA chief Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji had met the complainant and her husband, at a hotel in Mumbai on February 27, 2018, to reach a compromise.
Verma had claimed that the female executive was reminded by Rai during the course of the meeting that since no formal complaint against the top official has been received by the board, the matter cannot be investigated.
Verma added in his letter that, it was then that a formal complaint (email) was sent to Rai by the female employee on March 2, 2018.
On March 5, Rai summoned the senior male executive (the accused) to Delhi and apprised him of the seriousness of the entire issue.
Repeated attempts by DNA to contact Rai and Edulji in the last few days have been futile as both have not answered calls or replied to messages.
DNA has reliably learnt that a section of the BCCI has been planning to approach the National Commission for Women over this matter.
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 "Neeraj Kumar")
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