Ex-engineer goes to police claiming Kabbadi League is his idea

The PKL, as we know it, is played under the banner of Mashal Sports and is co-promoted by industrialist Anand Mahindra and sports commentator Charu Sharma, who is a director of the company. The PKL started in 2014. 

But a 30-year-old former engineer and kabbadi player Abhisek Ekal claims the PKL is his idea.  Ekal has, in fact, filed a complaint with the Bhoiwada police against eight people for hijacking his idea. 
Apart from Mahindra and Charu, he has named advertising guru Piyush Pandey, advisor in Mashal Sports; Devraj Chaturvedi, CEO, International Kabbadi Federation; Vishwas More, joint secretary of Mumbai Sahar Kabbadi Association, and three others in his complaint.

All the eight suspects have moved the Bombay high court for quashing the FIR. A spokesman for Mahindra & Mahindra said: “We have found that the same complainant had previously made an application before the magistrate for recording the FIR, which was dismissed. All persons against whom the FIR has been registered have filed an application for quashing the FIR before the Bombay high court. The court has heard the matter and has ordered that no precipitative action be taken by the authorities until the matter is heard next on March 23, 2015 (today).” 

Ekal claims he conceived the idea in 2012 and approached More. “More has a lot of experience in handling kabbadi events and I approached him for seeking permission from the International Kabbadi Federation and also for logistical support, umpires, ground and player management,” he says. 

“I requested him to join us in the project, which he agreed. We had a number of meetings after that,” Ekal claims. Ekal says, in 2013, he mailed an information brochure to Piyush Pandey, execuitve chairman and creative director for India and South East Asia, Ogilvy and Mather, and to the marketing head of Mahindra & Mahindra for sponsorship. 

Then, one day, while playing kabbadi in a local tournament, Ekal got injured and was advised bed rest by doctors.  “When I recovered and got back to work on the project, I came to know that, on March 14, 2014, Mashal Sports, with other corporate houses, launched my idea under the name of Pro Kabbadi League. 

“Once I realised that my project was hijacked, I tried to meet Anand Mahindra, Piyush Pandey and the marketing head of Mahindra & Mahindra. I went to their offices, wrote them emails, but all in vain,” he says.

Ekal says finally, Chaturvedi, CEO, International Kabbadi Federation, got in touch with him on behalf of the suspects to settle the matter.  “I had a meeting with Chaturvedi on April 2, 2014, in which he stated that Sharma and Mahindra agree that the idea of PKL was mine and hence he had come to meet me,” said Ekal. 

“Later when I tried to get in touch with him, he never came on phone and again I started sending emails to the office-bearers of Mashal Sports. We had another meeting at Hotel Vivekanand, Dadar (East), where I was asked what I was expecting from them.

“I told them that I should be given credit and should be made a director. They denied and told me that they are in sports politics for the last 50 years and I can do whatever I want to do,” he says. Ekal also has another charge against Mashal Sports stakeholders. He says they created a backdated Facebook page and also on Wikipedia saying that the contract on selling teams was finalised in January 2012 to prove that the entire concept was theirs.

Charu Sharma refuted the charges. “I really don't want to comment. Kindly keep me away as Mr. Chaturvedi is following it up and would be in a better position to answer”. Piyush Pandey, too, had the same response. “I really don't want to comment on it as the owners would be in a position to comment on the entire matter”. 

Chaturvedi said that “the man who thinks that the idea of league matches is his is foolish as all league matches have the same format and it has been played for a long time”.  He admitted that Ekal had approached them. “Yes, the complainant had approached us and I told him to give me proof, which he was unable to.” 

More refuted the allegations, saying “such tournaments have been held earlier too, and there are a number of permissions required for such a thing and he had none of them. All allegations are baseless”.
?Senior police inspector Sunil Tondwalkar from the Bhoiwad police station confirmed the registration of the FIR. "We haven't taken any action as the matter is in court and once that is decided, we will take further action as per law," he said.