The BCCI has shaped a three-member committee to probe into the allegation of Wriddhiman Saha receiving threats from a journalist, who purportedly despatched him a string of WhatsApp messages, demanding an interview. The cricket board’s vice-president Rajiv Shukla, treasurer Arun Dhumal and the BCCI Apex Council member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia represent the committee that may begin the inquiry proceedings early subsequent week.
This comes on a day when Saha dropped a touch that he may be open to revealing the title of the journalist, though for the “time being” he’s sustaining secrecy. This paper had earlier reported that the BCCI would ask Saha to disclose the id of the journalist.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has at this time constituted a three-member committee to look into the matter of Widdhiman Saha receiving threats and intimidation from a senior journalist. The three member committee contains BCCI Vice-President Mr Rajiv Shukla, BCCI Treasurer Mr Arun Singh Dhumal and BCCI Apex Council Member Mr Prabhtej Singh Bhatia. The committee will begin the proceedings as early as subsequent week,” mentioned the cricket board launch.
Saha, the wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been dropped from the Test staff for the upcoming two matches towards Sri Lanka, posted a tweet on February 19, capturing a screenshot of the messages like: “After all of my contributions to Indian cricket.. this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is the place the journalism has gone.” Another message from the anonymous journalist had said: “You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this.”
(File)
Accordingly, the BCCI press launch acknowledged: “Saha, a centrally contracted cricketer was allegedly threatened by a senior journalist for not responding to his messages asking for an interview. Taking cognizance of the matter the BCCI obtained in contact with Saha and determined to represent a three-member committee to analyze the matter.”
On Friday, throughout a dialog with The Indian Express, the 37-year-old mentioned, “I preserve the stand of not revealing the id of the journalist in the intervening time. I mentioned this in my different tweets as nicely. I am unable to inform you what is going to occur sooner or later.” The dialog came about earlier than the BCCI issued the press launch.
Saha had earlier instructed this paper that he would not disclose the id of the unnamed individual. “If they ask me to reveal the name (of the journalist), I would tell them it was never my intention to harm somebody’s career, to pull a person down. That’s why I didn’t reveal the name in my tweet. That’s not the teaching of my parents. The main purpose of my tweet was to expose the fact that there’s someone in the media who does such things, disrespecting a player’s wish,” he had mentioned.
Later, posting a collection of tweets on February 22, he repeated it, whereas utilizing the phrase “bullying”. “I used to be harm and offended. I believed to not tolerate such form of habits and did not need anybody to undergo these form of bullying.
I made a decision I’ll exit and expose the chat within the public eye, however not his/her title”, said the tweets, which also added, “My nature is not such that I’ll hurt anybody to the extent of ending somebody’s profession. So on grounds of humanity taking a look at his/her household, I’m not exposing the title in the intervening time. But if any such repetition occurs, I can’t maintain again.”
Saha, who has performed 40 Tests and 9 ODIs, is a Grade B central contractee, with an annual retainer charge of Rs 3 crore.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
