IPL petitioner Aditya Verma leads BCCI chorus for CEO Rahul Johri’s resignation

Rahul Johri was on Sunday asked by CoA chief Vinod Rai to skip the ICC meeting that shall take place in Singapore from October 16-19 so that he can focus on filing an explanation to the allegation of sexual harassment.

IPL petitioner Aditya Verma has joined the chorus for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri’s removal after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against him on Saturday. While the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has asked Johri to file an explanation in the matter within a week, Verma feels that the CEO should resign on moral grounds.

File image of BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. (BCCI)

In a letter, accessed by Hindustan Times, Verma has made it clear that in the current circumstance, it is only proper for the CEO to resign from his position as him continuing to work in the BCCI would bring a bad name to the country’s cricket board.

“I have always spoken about transparency and the CoA has also spoken about the need to be transparent. In such a scenario, I feel that the CEO should have already resigned the moment such an allegation was published against him on social media. He should have himself done this as someone who is an integral part of the board. I am sure that Vinod Rai will ensure that a proper investigation is carried out as any dilly-dallying on this also puts the CoA under the scanner,” he told the Hindustan Times.

Interestingly, Johri was on Sunday asked by CoA chief Vinod Rai to skip the ICC meeting that shall take place in Singapore from October 16-19 so that he can focus on filing an explanation after the CEO was accused of sexual harassment by an ex-colleague in his previous organisation. Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has been asked to represent BCCI in the meeting.

Verma has joined the chorus as many within the board feel that Johri should step down from his current position as the charges levied against him are serious in nature. Verma had earlier written to CoA chief Rai, asking him to look into a matter of sexual harassment in the BCCI. Even though the mail to Rai didn’t mention any names, in the new mail that the Cricket Association of Bihar secretary sent on Monday, Verma has written that he was asked to sort his issues with board executives after his previous mail.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior BCCI official said that considering that the board doesn’t just cater to the men’s team and also has the national women’s team and other age-group teams for women, Johri continuing as CEO gives out the wrong signal.

“It is an unprecedented situation for the BCCI where its CEO is facing allegations of sexual harassment. This is tarnishing the image of the BCCI and cannot be permitted. In an organisation with women employees and a separate vertical for Women’s cricket, the CEO’s position has become untenable. He must resign from his position as every day that he continues affects the morale of the employees of the organisation and the young girls playing the game. On our part we will not allow him to step foot in our premises till this thing is sorted out,” the official said.

Another BCCI official echoed the sentiments. “You have to realise that Johri is an integral part of all organization and backend work of the board and we have women employees as well apart from having the women’s cricket team. The CEO continuing is clearly a case of giving out the wrong signal to all of them and that will be unfair. While nobody is denying that the CoA has asked him to explain his position within a week, he should himself resign on moral grounds,” the official said.

The allegations against Johri have been made by an unnamed person, who claimed to be his colleague during his stint at the Discovery Channel. The anonymous account was posted on Twitter by an author, Harnidh Kaur, who later stated that she did not want the charges published nor her name used in the context.