The President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Jagan Mohan Rao, was arrested on Wednesday by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in Hyderabad over IPL 2025 ticket scam, forgery and misappropriation of funds.
HCA IPL Ticket controversy involving SRH
The probe looked into the complaint filed by Sunrisers Hyderabad over HCA trying to secure extra tickets and tickets for personal sale, which involved a black-marketing activity.
Before the match against the Lucknow Super Giants on March 27, SRH had accused Rao of intimidation, coercion, and blackmail. They even claimed that he had even locked a corporate box hours before a match, demanding more complimentary tickets. This action allegedly violated a tri-party agreement involving SRH, HCA, and BCCI, which allocates 10% of tickets as complimentary tickets to HCA.
SRH not only appealed to the BCCI and the IPL Governing Council to intervene and address the issue but also threatened to consider relocating their home matches to another state if the HCA continued to "threaten" the franchise.
Case of forged documents and misappropriation fo funds
According to Indian Express report, an FIR was lodged based on a June 9 complaint filed by D Guruva Reddy, general secretary of the Telangana Cricket Association, who alleged that Rao had contested the HCA elections in 2023 by furnishing forged documents and, along with the others, usurped the association’s funds worth Rs 2.32 crore.
As per the report, CID sources said that during the investigation, the agency found that Rao had forged a cricket club membership to qualify for contesting the 2023 HCA elections. One of the requirements of being eligible for the HC elections is membership of an HCA-affiliated club.
Besides Jaganmohan Rao, Sri Chakra Cricket Club general secretary Rajender Yadav and his wife Kavita, HCA treasurer C.J. Srinivas Rao, and CEO Sunil Bose Kante were also arrested .
