Dalmiya embezzlement case adjourned till December 29

The Mumbai metropolitan court adjourned till December 29 a case filed against Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former head of the ICC and the BCCI, by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police for alleged embezzlement of funds during the 1996 World Cup.

This is the second adjournment of the case; the court had, on March 26, pushed the date for the next hearing to June 16 after Dalmiya's lawyers asked for more time to study the case. Dalmiya was not present at yesterday's hearing since his lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, filed an application for exception on the grounds that he was preparing to contest the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) elections next month.

Dalmiya, who was the CAB president for 13 years before being voted out in favour of Prasun Mukherjee in 2006, felt the ongoing case was not an impediment to contesting the elections. "That [referring to yesterday's adjournment] was a regular course of hearing. The hurdle was never there. If you have any information that the court ruling was any a roadblock [in contesting CAB polls], it's false and fictitious," he told PTI.

The court had initially granted Dalmiya bail after the EOW had filed a chargesheet accusing him of misappropriating funds to the tune of Rs 2.9 crore (approx US$725,000). It alleged that Dalmiya diverted funds from a bank account in Kolkata that was originally set up for paying legal fees towards various other expenses. There was a "technical arrest" but Dalmiya received a swift bail after he said he would produce surety of Rs 25,000 ($625).