A section of sports veterans and a former secretary of the District Sports Association (DSA) in Malda have accused the association’s honorary secretary Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury of indulging in large-scale financial irregularities and misuse of government-owned properties.

Choudhury is also the chairman of the Trinamool Congress-run Englishbazar municipality of the district.

A written complaint was submitted on Friday to the office of Rajanvir Singh Kapur, the district magistrate, who also serves as the ex officio president of the DSA, Malda.

The complainants have demanded a high-level investigation into what they described as “monetary irregularities” by the present committee of the sports association.

Former athlete Kaushik Sarkar and many other sports veterans alleged that the swimming pool premises of the DSA were being rented out for private ceremonies without proper transparency and with several irregularities.

“The committee also allowed unauthorised fee-based parking operations on the DSA premises. Also, it allowed commercial establishments to operate in violation of rules and regulations,” said Sarkar.

The former players also demanded that the administration authorities conduct a detailed inquiry and refer the matter to the state sports and youth affairs department if preliminary evidence of wrongdoing is found.

Subhasish Sarkar, a former secretary of the DSA, claimed that the allegations were genuine and called for a thorough probe.

“The secretary of the DSA must answer these questions and face an investigation. It is being claimed that several coaching camps are organised by DSA Malda, but in reality, some private coaches were allowed to use the DSA grounds after paying fees to the authority. These are not officially organised DSA camps,” Sarkar said.

He further claimed that there was no uniform policy regarding rental charges for the swimming pool premises and demanded an inquiry into the alleged corruption involving Choudhury and his associates.

Choudhury, who is also a state vice-president of Trinamool and is considered a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, denied the charges.

“We send players to national and international competitions. To bear the expenses of coaching and training, the DSA requires substantial funds. Therefore, we introduced different methods to generate revenue. Regular audits are conducted by chartered accountants,” Choudhury said.

He said that those making the allegations have no connection with sports activities.

“I am ready to face any investigation,” he added.

With a general meeting scheduled in the coming months to form a new committee of the DSA, fresh allegations have also surfaced, claiming that the election process of the association had been compromised under the present leadership.

The district administration, however, is yet to come up with an official response to the complaint. “We are looking into the charges,” said an official.