The BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri has been named anonymously in the #MeToo campaign that has brought allegations of sexual abuse of women out into the public domain. The alleged incident involving Johri was said to have occurred before he was employed by the BCCI.
The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is overseeing the BCCI, said on Saturday afternoon that it would seek an explanation from Johri.
“There are certain media reports today, including in the social media, pertaining to Mr. Rahul Johri, CEO BCCI. The reports disclose allegations of sexual harassment made against Mr. Johri, by an unnamed person through a twitter handle,” the CoA statement said. “The allegations also relates to his previous employment with a large media house. The allegations have appeared as a part of the “me too” movement. Though, the said allegations do not pertain to his employment with the BCCI, the Committee of Administrators of the BCCI has deemed it appropriate to seek an explanation from Mr Johri in relation to the allegations. He has been asked to submit his explanation within a week. Future course of action will be considered on receipt of his explanation.”
The allegation was made by a woman claiming to be a former colleague of Johri’s at the time when he worked with a “niche satellite channel”, and was posted on Twitter on Friday night by a person who has published several such anonymous allegations on behalf of others. This is the first high-profile person involved in Indian cricket administration to be named in the #MeToo exposes.
Johri has been the BCCI CEO since June 2016, and before that he was Discovery Networks Asia Pacific’s executive vice-president and general manager for South Asia. Korn Ferry, a Mumbai-based head-hunting firm, had been appointed by the BCCI to find the board a CEO, and Johri was chosen by the firm after a roughly four-month-long selection process.
More to follow…