Saha

Amol Karhadkar

PUNE

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has banned journalist Boria Majumdar for two years after an internal inquiry found him guilty of an attempt to “threaten and intimidate” wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
The BCCI apex council, during its meeting last week, considered the report of a three-member committee and decided to ban Majumdar from being involved in any cricket or interviewing cricketers for two years.
“The BCCI Committee considered the submissions by both Mr. Saha and Mr. Majumdar and concluded that the actions by Mr. Majumdar were indeed in the nature of threat and intimidation. The BCCI Committee recommended the following sanctions to the Apex Council of BCCI,” Hemang Amin, BCCI interim chief executive, wrote in an email to the members.
“1. Two-year ban on getting any accreditation as a member of the press in any of the cricket matches (domestic and international) in India.
“2. Two-year ban on getting any interview with any registered players in India.
“3. Two-year ban on access to any of BCCI and members associations owned cricket facilities.”
In February, Saha had shared screenshots of text messages by a “respected journalist” on his social media feed. It prompted BCCI to constitute a three-member committee comprising vice-president Rajeev Shukla, treasurer Arun Dhumal and apex council member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia. The committee interacted with both the parties before submitting its recommendations to the apex council.