Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC, which was one of the 10 teams slated to play the I-League qualifiers from October 4 in Bengaluru, might be disqualified by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) after they produced a fake bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakhs. AIFF had asked all the interested clubs to submit a bank guarantee of the above mentioned amount as part of the selection process for the I-League qualifiers. 29 teams had applied for the qualifiers but only 12 had cleared club licensing, which included Hyderya Sports. The two teams that cleared the licensing and didn’t make the final 10 were Garhwal FC and PIFA Sports FC. Due to the ‘one state one club’ rule, the two teams that finished higher in their respective state leagues - Delhi FC and Kenkre FC - were given the nod from New Delhi and Maharashtra.
Sources say that Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC tried to make a duplicate of the bank guarantee that was submitted by Downtown Heroes, who finished third in the Jammu and Kashmir Professional League. Hyderya had finished second in the league while J&K Bank finished top. Since J&K Bank is an institutional team, it couldn’t have applied for the I-League qualifiers and hence, Hyderya and Downtown applied.
Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC’s General Secretary Syed Akeel says the whole menace has happened after the bank employee, who initially provided them with the guarantee, got transferred to another branch.
“It was through my goodwill that we had received the bank guarantee from the Dalgate branch of J&K Bank. The employee who had provided us with the guarantee at that time has been transferred to another branch. Now, the branch manager is saying that ‘I hadn’t provided the bank guarantee and whoever did, I don’t know how he did it.’ We asked them to confirm it with that employee but he said it won’t work and we will have to deposit Rs 25 lakhs," he commented in a conversation with News18.com.
He further added that the initial bank guarantee had a clause that if they don’t have cash, they could put an asset as mortgage. However, the bank is refusing to take it.
“We gave them papers of a land, the evaluation of which is Rs 40 lakhs, but they didn’t accept it. We then gave them documents of a car, the value of which is over Rs 35 lakhs according to us, but they refused to take that as well.
“I don’t know if this a political game. I don’t know where we stand at the moment," he said.
Sources close to the bank said that Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC did not produce any land or car papers as mortgage.
AIFF had communicated to Hyderya that the bank guarantee was being cancelled on Saturday but the club wrote back explaining the situation and asked for 2-3 days to sort out the matter.
“If the bank is saying it’s fake, we are asking how it is fake if it has come from them. Our documents were all cleared by the AIFF and suddenly, the bank is saying that the guarantee is not valid," he concluded.
The I-League qualifiers are set to begin from October 4 with the grouping currently as follows:
Group A: Rajasthan United FC, Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC, Ryntih SC, Madan Maharaj FC, FC Bengaluru United.
Group B: Corbett FC, Kenkre Sports, ARA FC, Kerala United FC, Delhi FC.
Hyderya Sports Kashmir FC were the team to kick off the qualifiers against Madan Maharaj but it now remains to be seen how the fixtures pan out.
News18.com has reached out to the AIFF for comment and the story will be updated as an when a response is received.
More details to follow…
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