New Delhi: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) bribery scandal Tuesday forced the world body to ask the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to take action against the tainted official.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) stated that it has taken note of the alleged bribery act involving IHF secretary-general K. Jothi Kumaran, who was seen accepting money for the inclusion of a player in the national team for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia next month, and asked the IOA to take action.

“We have taken notice of the matter and are in close contact with the IOA to take proper action as they see it to be appropriate,” FIH president Els van Breda Vriesman told IANS in an email.

Television channel Aaj Tak's sting operation showed Jothi Kumaran receiving Rs.200,000 in cash and then asking for Rs.300,000 more to be given to his "man" in New Delhi for the inclusion of an unnamed player in the national team. The channel claimed that the money was handed over to him in a hotel here in two instalments April 10 and 11.

Though Jothi Kumaran resigned from the post immediately after the news broke out, he denied the charges levelled against him.

Sports Minister M.S. Gill and the IOA condemned the incident and said that proper action would be taken against Jothi Kumaran if found guilty.

Although the FIH has provisionally allotted the 2010 World Cup to Delhi, the incident could mar India's chances of hosting the event, as Jothi Kumaran was to be the organising secretary.

 

Source : IANS