Indian Olympic Association (IOA) vice-president Sudhanshu Mittal has now written another letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accusing Narinder Batra of illegally reinstating Lalit Bhanot who is facing corruption charges.
In his letter, addressed to IOC’s Ethics Commission chairman Ban Ki-moon, Mittal has alleged that following his election as the IOA president, Batra immediately reinstated Bhanot who has been accused of indulging in corrupt practices during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, immediately after getting elected as President of the Indian Olympic Association on 14.12.2017, reinstated a person against whom charges are framed in court. Dr. Lalit Bhanot was appointed Chairman and member of key Committees,” Mittal wrote.
“Till 22.05.2020, Dr. Bhanot was also a member of the IOA Legal Committee,” Mittal wrote in his letter to Ban Ki-moon, the former UN secretary general. A complaint regarding the illegal appointment of Dr Lalit Bhanot was mailed to the IOA Ethics Commission, of which I am a member, and the IOC Ethics Commission on 08.05.2020,” he added.
The other portfolios which Bhanot holds in IOA are Preparation Committee (chairman), Sports Code Commission (chairman), National Games Format Review Committee (chairman), Co-ordination Commission (member), Sports Development Commission (member) and Core Committee (member).
Mittal has also alleged irregularities in the election of Batra as IOA president in 2017, a claim rejected by the IOC last week.
However, Mittal has said the response was given without referring the complaint to the Ethics Commission.
“A rushed and tweaked response by a staff without referring the complaint to the Ethics Commission, when the concerned is a member of the International Olympic Committee by virtue of his role in a National Olympic Committee, that is due to host the Session of the International Olympic Committee, has conflict of interest marred all over it,” Mittal had written in reply to the rejection of his allegations.
(With PTI Inputs)
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