Calcutta: Strange are the ways of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Instead of either starting an inquiry or calling for an independent probe into the affairs of the scandal-hit Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), it has sent the body’s chairman, Mohammed Aslam Goni, as manager to South Africa!

It suits the BCCI to not have a full-time manager, as loyalists/those being wooed usually get sent with the team. In a highly politicised environment, this comes in handy.

For the record, Goni is the fourth manager (after Shivlal Yadav, Biswarup Dey, Arindam Ganguly) in four months.

That the present trip is for only one T20 International, on Friday, is immaterial. Goni has still been ‘rewarded’ at a time when the JKCA has allegedly seen “embezzlement” to the tune of crores of Rupees.

Crores which came from the BCCI’s coffers, by way of “TV rights subsidy” and “IPL subsidy.” Both together amount to around Rs 20 crore annually, which explains why everybody wants to have something to do with an affiliate of the world’s richest cricket body.

The scandal broke some weeks ago, but the BCCI, headed by Narayanswamy Srinivasan, is yet to say anything on record. It’s assumed this silence is because the JKCA president is Union minister Farooq Abdullah.

Abdullah heads the National Conference, which is in power (with the Congress) in J&K. Goni, incidentally, is his political advisor and, so, wears multiple hats.

That, of course, is not unusual for the country’s cricket administrators.

Belatedly, the JKCA did file a police complaint, earlier this month, but most fear that the investigation won’t be fair. The opposition in the state has already gone to the extent of seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Abdullah’s son, Omar, is the J&K chief minister.

“We, in the BCCI, ought to have launched a probe of our own. After all, it’s the BCCI’s money... By remaining quiet, we haven’t sent the right signal,” a senior official told The Telegraph.

Speaking on Wednesday evening, he added: “It won’t surprise if similar things are happening in some of the other bodies, particularly the ones which don’t host international fixtures... Sadly, the accountability is negligible.”

There’s a definite question mark over the transparency issue, which is why Union sports minister Ajay Maken is more than just keen to bring the BCCI under the RTI Act.

Another scandal and the Makens will get more ammunition.