The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has asked All India Football Federation (AIFF) sacked chief legal adviser Neelanjan Bhattacharya to submit evidence of corruption allegations levelled against national federation chief Kalyan Chaubey. AIFF president Chaubey had sent a legal notice to Bhattacharya on March 6.
In Bhattacharya’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chaubey had accused Chaubey of not maintaining transparency in the tender process and trying to extort money from the federation for personal expenses. Taking cognizance of the matter, the AFC asked Bhattacharya to submit a complete written report by March 18.
In a letter addressed to Bhattacharya, AFC Disciplinary and Conduct Committee Deputy Secretary Barry Lissatt said, “We are writing to you regarding media reports which show that you have requested the President of All India Football. Kalyan Chaubey (AIFF) has been accused of corruption. “Considering the seriousness of the matter, we request you to submit a full written report to the AFC by March 18 and explain your role in the matter,” he said.
Chaubey had termed Bhattacharya’s allegations as baseless.
Chaubey called the allegations baseless and accused Bhattacharya of tarnishing his image. Meanwhile, Bhattacharya expressed happiness over AFC’s letter and said he would submit a reply in due course. Bhattacharya told PTI, “I am happy because at least AFC has taken cognizance of my allegations, except for a few people in AIFF, others thought it better to remain silent.” This could be the beginning. I will hand over all the evidence I have to the AFC in due course.’
Former captain Baichung Bhutia also reacted to the matter and asked Chaubey to resign. Bhutia said, “Many negative things are being said about the AIFF administration. The AFC has taken cognizance of the allegations of corruption against Kalyan and may initiate an investigation. It can cause serious damage to the reputation of Indian football.’ He said, ‘Nothing good is going on in the AIFF administration. Kalyan should accept the responsibility and resign and hold fresh elections.
