Sexual harassment charges against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri dropped; CoA-appointed probe panel dismisses all allegations

New Delhi: The three-member probe panel investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri dismissed all charges against him on Wednesday. The development comes as a massive relief for the beleaguered Johri, who went on leave purportedly to prepare his response to the accusations. [caption id=“attachment_4008483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rahul Johri. Twitter @BCCI[/caption] Johri had deposed before the probe panel on 13 November, following the deposition of two of the alleged victims. The CoA-appointed panel comprised of Allahabad High Court judge (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, former Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) chairperson Barkha Singh and lawyer-activist Veena Gowda. The allegations against Johri were 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. Johri has worked in various positions with the Discovery channel from 2001 to 2016 before taking over as the BCCI CEO. He became the first CEO of the cricket body after its administrative structure underwent a revamp owing to the Lodha Committee recommendations. Earlier, Johri was forced to pull out of an upcoming ICC Meeting in Singapore as the CoA decided to send BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary for the meeting.