India T20 manager faces sex abuse probe

Mr V. Chamun-deswarnath, the suspended general secretary of Andhra Cricket Association and Team India T20 manager, will face an inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled by several players of the Andhra women’s cricket team.

The director general of police, Mr S.S.P. Yadav, has appointed the additional DGP, Mr M. Ratan, as special officer to probe the allegations. Mr Ratan rushed back from leave to take up the probe. He is likely to start investigations on Wednesday.

The probe was ordered by the home minister, Ms P. Sabita Indra Reddy, who met the six women cricketers who had made the allegations. The girls submitted a written complaint to Ms Sabita Reddy seeking stringent action against Mr Chamundeswarnath.
They asked the police to probe the indecent SMS messages allegedly sent by Mr Chamundeswarnath.

The complaint was signed by Ms A. Durgabhavani and Ms P. Aparna of Vi-jayawada, Ms Deepti Sai of Tirupati, Ms A. Priyanka, Ms S. Ramadevi of Bheemavaram, Ms S. Kavita, Ms S. Himabindu, and Ms V. Sneha of Visakhapatnam who represented ACA in the under-19 and senior teams in the South Zone Interstate tournament.
“Whenever he had an opportunity he misbehaved with us,” they said. “He granted special favours to pretty girls who obeyed him. He had a habit of inducing and luring girls as part of secret agenda. He gave them foreign trips and put them in under-19 teams. Those who resisted were subjected to extreme harassment.”

“He had a habit of sending SMSes. It was instant mental agony and subtle harassment by him,” they said. “All these days we kept restraint because of fear.”
The cricketers alleged that the SMSes were sent in December last year and January.

In one SMS, he reportedly asked Ms Durgabhavani to call him when she was alone in December. In one instance, Mr Chamundeswarnath told her she was selected because of him. When she thanked him, he said “Thanks are not enough, I need hugs.”

The cricketers said other players also received such SMSes from Mr Chamundeswarnath. They asked the minister to verify his SMS and mobile phone call details. They alleged that one woman cricketer was caught red-handed with her boyfriend in a hotel by the team-mates but the incident was hushed up by Mr Chamundeswarnath.

Mr Chamundeswarnath refuted the allegations and said they were all false. “For the past two decades I was the selector for various levels of teams,” he said. “Did you hear any such allegations in all these years?”