No political vendetta behind FIR against HPCA: Ram Lal

Former Himachal Pradesh sports minister and state Congress Committee general secretary Ram Lal Thakur today denied that political vendetta was behind the FIR filed against the HP Cricket Association for alleged irregularities.
Reacting to comments by HPCA president Anurag Thakur, Ram Lal said that it was up to the former to show why a company had been registered in the name of the sports body to carry out commercial activities under the garb of promoting cricket.
HPCA has been accused of wrongfully getting land allotted out of the village common pool for building a hotel in Dharamsala.
Ram Lal alleged that while the land was registered in HPCA's name on June 23, 2012, the lease money was submitted only on December 11 last year.

"This money should have been deposited on the same day when the land was registered on the name of HPCA," he said.
He said that Anurag Thakur had usurped all the powers of HPCA by changing its constitution and enrolling 26 life members.

Meanwhile, former HP chief minister and Anurag Thakur's father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, has said that there was no justification behind another FIR against the HPCA Pavilion Hotel issue when the vigilance department was already holding a probe on the same upon orders from HP High Court.
"It shows that the government agencies are working under pressure from ruling party leaders," Dhumal told reporters at Hamirpur.

In Dharamsala, reacting to media reports that HPCA was hiding facts from authortities investigating the allegations of wrongdoing, the sports body's secretary Mohit Sood denied that that was the case.
"We strongly condemn the media reports which state that the association and its office-bearers are hiding facts and figures from the authorities," Sood said.
"We assure all stakeholders and the public that HPCA... has and would always cooperate with authorities who worked without bias," he added.