KARACHI: Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajeev Shukla’s executiveassistant Mohammed Akram Saifi has been accused of asking for sexualfavours as a prerequisite for selection in the state team.
According to reports in India media, Uttar Pradesh (UP) cricketer RahulSharma has claimed – in a sting carried out by Hindi news channel News1 –that Akram asked for prostitutes in return for a spot in the UP side. Thenews channel also brought to light a taped phone conversation betweenSharma and Akram, in which the latter can be heard asking the cricketer tosend women to his hotel in New Delhi.
Sharma further stated that Akram was also involved in issuing fake agecertificates to ensure that local players could easily take part inage-group tournaments. When contacted on the matter, Akram brushed asidethe allegations stating that this was scheme to defame him. “The boy sayshe sent a girl to me. If his allegations are true, then he should haveplayed cricket, right?
Did he? No. His allegation would have been proven had he played for UP,”Akram said according to The Indian Express. “Never once has his nameappeared in the 60-player list of UP, neither has he played any juniorcricket.” Rajeev Shukla’s version on the matter is still pending- accordingto The Indian Express – as all calls and messages to the IPL chairman wentunanswered.