Srinagar: An audio clip, in which a senior Government officer is purportedly heard demanding bribe money from a sports association functionary, has taken the lid off a corruption racket in the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council (JKSC).
Action has been initiated against the officer after her taped conversation went viral in the social media in Jammu and Kashmir and outside.
Secretary Youth Services and Sports Sarmad Hafeez said that the Divisional Sports Officer Kashmir Nuzhat Ara has been placed under suspension and an enquiry has been ordered into the allegations of corruption in the JKSC after an audio clip went viral in the social media. He said that Secretary JKSC Nuzhat Gul has been directed to submit her report to the Government immediately after the enquiry is completed.
“We strictly follow the Government’s policy of zero-tolerance towards corruption. Any action, as warranted by law over the enquiry report, would be taken”, Sarmad Hafeez asserted.
According to knowledgeable sources, one Ghulam Hassan, General Secretary of Soft Tennis Association Kashmir, called the lady officer at the JKSC over phone and beseeched her to release the payment on account of a coaching camp purportedly held in Kashmir. She made it repeatedly clear to the caller that the two particular payment cheques would be handed over to him only after he pays her Rs one lakh.
The Association General Secretary pleads that he would pay her Rs 75,000 instantly and another instalment of Rs 75,000 on account of another payment later which would become due in a few days. The lady officer insists that the caller should “clear our past account” before demanding release of another payment. After a great deal of persuasion, he convinces her to accept the first instalment of Rs 75,000. “Get it sooner as I have to go to Jammu”, says the lady officer.
However, rather than paying her the bribe money of Rs 75,000, the Association General Secretary seems to have recorded his entire conversation with the lady officer and leaked it to the social media. Sources privy to the inside affairs in JKSC said that the accused officer has threatened to “expose” five other JKSC officials involved in the racket if any action was taken against her.
The cheques have been drawn on account of holding a soft tennis coaching camp.
The system of registration of fake sports associations which comprise relatives, family members and friends of some particular persons, including government employees, has been an open secret in JKSC for a long time.
There have been allegations of allotment of funds for the events which are physically never held. An investigation agency has already started a probe into the “Biryani Scam” as some functionaries of the football association in league with JKSC officials have allegedly embezzled huge funds of the State exchequer. Other allegations have been about favouritism and nepotism in registration of associations, space given to fake associations for non-recognised sports activities and awards and selection of coaches.
Some allegations in the past have been about sexual exploitation of young players during national and countrywide events. “Unfortunately, higher authorities have been well aware of many such scams but an exemplary punishment has never been awarded to anybody. Authorities are also sitting on the demand of transfer of the officials who have remained posted at one particular place in JKSC for 10-12 years.
