Senior sports journalist Boria Majumdar has been banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for two years for “threatening and intimidating” India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
The ban on Boria Majumdar includes provisions like not getting press accreditation for any matches in India, embargo on interviewing centrally contracted players and no access to any of the cricket board’s and state units’ facilities.
The ban came into effect after the BCCI approved the recommendations of the three-member fact-finding committee.
The ban comes after investigation into the allegations of “threat and intimidation” levelled by Indian cricketer Wriddhiman Saha.
In February, Saha had shared a conversation with an unnamed journalist who seemingly had taken offense at the wicketkeeper-batter for ignoring his calls for an interview following which he warned the cricketer of not taking “insults kindly”.
Later, it came to light that the journalist was none other than Boria Majumdar, who now has been banned for two years by the BCCI.
The three-member fact-finding committee comprised: Rajeev Shukla (BCCI vice president), Arun Singh Dhumal (BCCI treasurer) and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia (councillor).
Copy of the letter BCCI sent to its members:
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. The Apex Council of BCCI agreed with the recommendations of the BCCI Committee and imposed the following sanctions:
- 2 (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; and
- 2 (two) year ban on access to any of BCCI and members associations owned cricket facilities.
In view of the above, we hereby request you to kindly facilitate the compliance of the aforementioned sanctions in your respective associations.