Hockey India secretary Bhola Nath accused of 'extortion'

New Delhi, November 25

Hockey India was left-red-faced today after its secretary general Bhola Nath Singh was accused of trying to “extort” Rs 25 lakh from Telangana Hockey unit president Saral Talwar, an allegation which the senior administrator termed “baseless”. The allegation by Talwar is based on Bhola Nath apparently demanding huge sum of money for allowing the state hockey unit to conduct elections.

Telangana Hockey’s elections have been due since April this year but according to Talwar, the HI secretary general has been creating multiple unnecessary hurdles, citing different reasons at different junctures.

“The elections were due in April and we were on line to conduct it but an HI official was sabotaging that. HI said there were complaints and we gave an answer to the committee and finally I met him (Bhola Nath) and he said that ‘if you want to get out of it, you have to pay Rs 25 (lakh). It was just me and him in the room,” Talwar told PTI.

“And then he said he will give me 7 days’ time to think about it. I met him on November 3,” he added.

Bhola Nath, on his part, rejected all the allegations and said he has always worked for the betterment of the sport. “These allegations are completely baseless. I have never taken even 25 paisa from anyone, leave aside Rs 25 lakh,” he told PTI.