Kerala Cricket Association president quits following corruption charges

KOCHI: The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has seen yet another reshuffle in its administration after its president B Vinod Kumar submitted his resignation on Saturday following a probe into irregularities at one of the district associations.

Vinod had only taken over from T C Mathew as the president of the state association on January 2, 2017, after Mathew, the BCCI vice-president was forced to quit in order to adhere to the recommendations of the Lodha Committee.

Vinod, who was the secretary of the Idukki District Cricket Association, before moving to the KCA resigned following his name was mentioned in a probe conducted into the irregularities in the construction of a cricket stadium under the Idukki body, which has also been suspended pending the investigation.

Ronklin John will take over as the new president of the KCA. Ronklin was acting as the vice-president of the state association as well as the Kottayam District Cricket Association. He is also the chairman of the CASH-Kerala committee which looks into the functioning of KCA's network of academies across the state.

Earlier, there were allegations of irregularities in the construction of the new stadium at Thodupuzha following which the KCA appointed a committee to look into the matter.

The interim report of the committee constituted was brought up in KCA's Central Council meeting held at a private hotel in Kochi following which Vinod resigned taking "the moral responsibility in the failure of functioning of the Idukki association".

Sajan K Varghese, secretary of the Pathanamthitta District Cricket Association, and K M Abdul Rahman of the Kasargod District Cricket Association were elected the new vice-presidents of the KCA during the meeting.

The resignation of Vinod, a close associate of former KCA president Mathew, means that the latter's hold in the state cricket association has now further diminished.