News18 India's cricket sting: Operation Clean Bowled unmasks members of Bihar, Jharkhand associations in cash-for-selection racket

Another episode of corruption in Indian cricket has surfaced after cricketers from Bihar and Jharkhand were found to be involved in corruption alongwith the members of the Bihar Cricket Association. In the sting operation carried out by News 18 India called ‘Operation Clean Bowled’, it has been revealed that the selectors and other members of Bihar and Jharkhand Cricket Associations can influence the selection process on being bribed a sum of as less as Rs 50,000 to as much as Rs one crore. [caption id=“attachment_4393551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty Images[/caption] Neeraj Kumar, the selector in Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), was caught on record saying that if Rs 74 lakh is paid to him, he can make any cricketer can play even at the Ranji Trophy level. The same report revealed that two cricketers from Delhi made forged resident certificates which described them as the citizens of Bihar. DP Tripathi, an umpire with BCA, was also caught on camera taking money to select a woman cricketer in one of Bihar’s district team. Tripathi said that it is easy to arrange for a fake Bihar resident certificate and get the cricketer directly into the team. For doing this forgery, he demanded a sum of Rs three to four lakh. The corruption charges have emerged in Jharkhand cricket as well. The same string operation exposed that JCA members can make anyone play in the U-16 and U-19 teams if a decent amount is paid to them. Mohammad Wasim, Secretary JCA, was approached by the undercover team of the News 18 India team to include a player in the district Under-19 team. Wasim was caught on record saying that he will need to see the quality of player. If the standard of the player is not up to the mark, he can arrange the documents for the player from another district in Jharkhand. For selecting a player in a district team, a sum of Rs 50, 000 was enough, said Wasim in the sting video. He went on to say that any player from any part of the country can play for the state U-16 team if an amount of up to Rs four lakh can be paid.