#MeToo: CoA to announce verdict on Rahul Johri

MUMBAI: Will BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, facing #MeToo allegations of sexual harassment, get a clean chit by the panel probing him? The million dollar question is likely to be answered on Wednesday.
The probe panel, comprising Allahabad High Court judge (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, former Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) chairperson Barkha Singh and lawyer activist Veena Gowda, submitted the result of its investigation to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) running the BCCI currently.CoA head Vinod Rai is likely to announce the verdict, either on the Board’s website, or maybe even through a media release.

There are murmurs that Johri may have got a clean chit, but they can’t be confirmed. A clean chit, in any case, is unlikely to close the matter, which is set to be then taken to the Supreme Court. The panel had sought an extension to the 15-day deadline that they were given to complete the inquiry against Johri. It was originally to submit its report to the CoA on November 15.
On Tuesday, Neeraj Kumar, a former commissioner of police, Delhi, and one-time head of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit, had questioned the secrecy and delay in announcing the verdict of the inquiry. At 6.14 pm on Tuesday, Kumar tweeted: “No news is not so good news in the BCCI inquiry.” Some 31 minutes later, Kumar was much more blunt: “Delay, suspense, mystery... All portents of a cover-up in #BCCI INQUIRY COMMITTEE?”


Earlier, former Mumbai captain Shishir Hattangadi, another deponent in the probe, had tweeted: “Smell the coffee @BCCI. There are sponsors and fans that back the game. Please don’t undermine or ignore their contribution to the sport and the institution. Credibility and cleanliness is a huge factor for sponsors backing a sport and the body which runs it!” Hattangadi deposed in support of a lady who’d been allegedly sexually harassed by Johri. The lady generally stays overseas and her own deposition was on Skype.

Kumar, who had told TOI last month about a BCCI employee having complained against Johri for alleged sexual harassment in the past, had deposed before the panel via skype. It’s learnt that two of the complainants deposed before the panel, though the BCCI employee who had allegedly been harassed, wasn’t called for deposition. Curiously, while Johri appeared before the panel, it’s learnt that he didn’t cross-question the complainants. “I told the panel to at least ask the BCCI employee, who had complained against Johri, to appear before it,” a deponent told TOI.
The allegations against Johri first surfaced when an author, Harnidh Kaur, shared an incident involving an unnamed person, who claimed to be Johri’s colleague during his stint at the Discovery Channel. It’s important to note that the CoA wasn’t on the same page when it came to forming the panel to probe #MeToo allegations against Johri-while Rai was in favour of it, the other member, former India women’s team captain Diana Edulji, wanted the BCCI CEO sacked.
Earlier this month, there was a new allegation against Johri. A Twitter handle (@pujaagr) has alleged that she was harassed by Johri after she left a job. “Rahul was my boss… He asked me out when I had left zee and tried to get close to me. I didn’t allow that. For almost a couple of weeks he kept sending me messages that he wants to sleep with me. I ignored and then he eventually stopped,” the user Puja Agrawal said in a reply to a couple of journalists on Twitter. She was immediately been advised to approach the concerned authorities in the BCCI.
Johri has worked in various positions with the Discovery channel from 2001 to 2016 before taking over as the BCCI CEO. Believed to be in his late 40s, he became the first CEO of the cricket body after its administrative structure underwent a revamp owing to the Lodha Committee recommendations.