Nandan Bezbaruah. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, June 3: Former Assam Cricket Association (ACA) secretary Nandan Bezbaruah, placed under suspension by his one-time colleagues for five years, today vowed appropriate action against those maligning him with “trumpeted charges”.

Bezbaruah rubbished the charges against him point by point and alleged that a well-executed conspiracy has been launched to keep him out of the ACA. He said many persons in the present dispensation, including his successor Bikash Baruah, “sees me as a possible threat”.

He said that very few in the ACA would stand up for him because of the money and muscle power of its top brass.

Bezbaruah said he would not sit idle till he gets his name cleared. “I will decide my next course of action once I get a formal intimation so that I can prepare a suitable reply. As things stand today, I have no option but to seek legal recourse,” he said.

The former secretary claimed he had in a letter to the ACA on December 12 tried to sort out matters, but to no avail. “I went to the ACA to hand over the documents and ballot papers earlier in the day. It was refused though I was the legal custodian of the papers for at least six months. Then proceedings were initiated against me at a special meeting on November 25, just 15 days after I lost the election, without giving me a chance to clear my stand.”

“A conspiracy has been hatched to remove me from the scene so that I cannot expose the misdeeds of certain members of the ACA even as an ex-officio member. I had clearly mentioned in the letter that I would hand over the proceeding book and ballot papers to an authorised ACA representative in the presence of my representative with due acknowledgement at a specified place, day and time. But my plea fell on deaf ears.”

Regarding the charges of instigating the Gafur Zaman faction of the Nalbari District Sports Association to move court after losing the election, Bezbaruah said, “If (Bikash) Baruah and his colleagues had any objection on Nurul Islam and Chandra Kalita’s participation, they should have objected then and there. When Zaman showed the court papers, I told him that I will not be of any help and advised him to seek legal opinion. The charge of handing over official papers and tampering ballot papers is figment of imagination.”

Bezbaruah, a former Ranji Trophy captain, has several firsts to his credit. Under him, Assam qualified for the first time to the Ranji knockout in 1991-1992 and again in 2001-2002, state players were included in the India “A”, India “B” and under-19 World Cup teams, the Assam Cricket Academy was being set up and a coach from outside had been appointed for the Ranji team last season.

He had also submitted a blueprint for the development of cricket at an ACA meeting in Jorhat.

However, his Achilles’ heel has been dishonouring a request by social welfare minister Gautam Roy to make way for Baruah and his habit of keeping people in the dark on important matters. “Bezbaruah has only himself to blame. There are people in the ACA who are only interested in promoting themselves instead of the game,” a confidant said.