IOA treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey talks to PS as CBI initiates probe against IOA prez

The CBI has lodged a preliminary inquiry against IOA president Narinder Batra for allegedly diverting nearly ₹35 lakh of Hockey India funds for his personal benefit. The allegations of corruption against Batra are the latest in a series of issues that the IOA finds itself engulfed in. Batra, who is the International Hockey Federation chief, is a former secretary general and president of Hockey India, and has headed the IOA since 2017. In an exclusive chat with Power Sportz, Indian Olympic Association treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey has hit out at IOA prez for ‘unethical practices’ within the association and also for allegedly misusing Hockey India’s funds for personal use. This is to be noticed that things are not fine within the Indian Olympic Association as it has been divided into two factions- one headed by Narinder Batra and the other one by Rajeev Mehta. Pandey has also written a letter to Batra and other HI officials claiming that because of this pending matter, IOA has not filed its income tax returns for 2020/21 and 2021/22 which may result in a heavy penalty and the federation is also losing its charitable status.