Bhubaneswar, July 8: The mega bucks investment in the Orissa Premier League (OPL) is not all clean. At least that is what the state vigilance department has found out.
Nearly a month after the T20 extravaganza concluded, the vigilance sleuths have come up with evidence of illegal money having been invested in the OPL. And the money trail leads to at least three to four mine-owners against whom cases of illegal mining are pending.
Vigilance director Anup Patnaik said illegal money from the multi-crore mining scam has been used in the first edition of the tournament that concluded on June 12.
“Three to four owners of mines are on our radar. A former motor vehicle inspector (MVI), against whom vigilance had filed cases, has also invested money in the OPL. We have directed our officials to speed up the inquiry and prepare a detailed report,” Patnaik said.
Patnaik revealed that former MVI Mahadev Pati, against whom cases were pending, owned the Cuttack franchise, Katak Barabati Tigers, which emerged runners-up in the tournament. The vigilance had conducted raids against Pati and two of his accomplices, Manoj Behera and Pramod Sahu, in November 2010, in connection with massive investments in a housing scheme.
The raids had revealed that the MVI trio had invested more than Rs 109 crore in three housing complexes in the capital. In an effort to convert black money into white, Pati and his associates had floated a construction company called Aryan Infrastructure. The company has built three housing complexes – Arya Palli, Arya Bhumi and Arya Nilay. These account for 172 flats in all. Pati was not available for comment.
Pati had bought the Cuttack franchise for Rs 35 lakh in partnership with Siddharth Constructions. The tournament had nine other teams in the fray. The teams were Bhubaneswar Jaguars, Kashvi Power Rangers (Keonjhar), JSP Sparks (Jagatsinghpur), Cooperative Kings Dhenkanal, Puri Emperors, Berhampur Bhanja Veers, Angul Tuskers, Balasore Baghas and Western Samurai.
Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) had initiated the state’s maiden cricket premier league following the resounding success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is organised annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Patnaik said: “The franchise-owners have not been able to recover even a paisa from the tournament. They were aware that it was a loss-making venture. From where did they get the money to invest? How did the shareholders of the company allow them to invest so much money in the OPL?”
On pen and paper, the OPL is worth Rs 5 crore, but people associated with the tournament had told The Telegraph earlier that apart from the franchise fees, which ranged between Rs 27 lakh and Rs 55 lakh, each franchise had splurged between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. The Telegraph had carried a detailed report on the economics behind the OPL on June 21.
The OCA authorities have, however, welcomed the vigilance probe. OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said: “We have followed a very transparent process in selecting the franchise owners. There was an open tender. It is up to the vigilance to inquire into the involvement of black money in the OPL. As this was the first edition of the OPL, there might have been some mistakes. We will try to rectify them in the next edition of the OPL.”
