Cheteshwar Pujara ties the wedding knot in a private function

Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2013

Indian middle-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara on Wednesday tied the nuptial knot with fiancee Puja Pabari, at a family function.

The three-day wedding functions started last night with the 'Sangeet Sandhya'. The marriage rituals would take place this evening followed by a reception on Thursday.

Puja belongs to Gujarat's Jamnagar district and is a management graduate.

"Entire Indian team and the BCCI officials are invited," said Arvind Pujara, Cheteshwar's father.

However, his teammates are not likely to attend, as they would be busy preparing for the series against Australia.

Pujara did not play in the Irani Trophy match against Mumbai and also missed the Board President XI tie against Australia on account of his marriage.

He won't have much time to spend with the wife as he would be joining the Indian team by February 15.

Pujara has played nine Tests for India so far, scoring 761 runs with three hundreds at a healthy average of over 58.

Dhoni named India Cements vice-president

Posted: Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been appointed as vice-president of India Cements, a company which is headed by BCCI President N Srinivasan.

Dhoni, who recently resigned from Air India, is expected to play for his new employers in the BCCI Corporate Trophy which began today despite his earlier intention to take a break ahead of the important home series against Australia.

India Cements are the owners of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings of which Dhoni has been the captain since 2008 and Srinivasan is the Managing Director-cum-vice-chairman of the company.

That Dhoni had joined the company had come to light when his name was included in the India Cements squad a few days back. A Chennai Superking official has confirmed his position in the company.

The inclusion of Dhoni`s name in the India Cements squad for February 1-8 Corporate Trophy had come as a surprise since the Indian captain had expressed a desire to rest and had made himself unavailable for the Irani Trophy.

The latest move to make Dhoni a vice-president of Indian Cements could come under criticism on the ground of conflict of interest.

Dhoni is known to have the complete backing of Srinivasan who had vetoed a move to remove him from Indian captaincy after a string of Test losses.

Dhoni had earlier played in Corporate Trophy for national carrier Air India but since then has resigned from the company.

The Corporate Trophy will be held in four cities - Pune, Nagpur, Indore and Raipur. The Irani Trophy will be held in Mumbai from February 6 to 10.

Enforcement Directorate slaps 100 Crore penalty on Rajasthan Royals

Posted:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has slapped a penalty notice of approximately Rs 100 crore against IPL team Rajasthan Royals for allegedly violating forex laws in its business operations.

The agency, which issued the penalty notice after a two years of investigations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), has sent out three separate notices to the IPL franchise totalling to Rs 98.5 crore plus some other similar notices earlier, sources said.

While a Rs 50 crore penalty has been slapped on Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (JIPL) and its directors, owners of Rajasthan Royals, Rs 34 crore notice for evasion of forex duties has been issued against EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius and its directors.

A fresh notice of Rs 14.5 crore has been issued against Ms ND Investments, United Kingdom and its directors. All the three parties can appeal against this penalty order in the appellate authority of FEMA. The order requires the IPL team to pay up in 45 days.

The ED has been investigating financial and foreign exchange irregularities against all the IPL franchises for almost two years now and this is the first big order against any team. It comes just a day after auctions concluded in Chennai for the sixth edition of the glamorous cricket extravaganza.

The penalty order said the probe agency found that foreign investment in JIPL was made in "flagrant contravention of FEMA" and the investment made in this regard was made "much prior to the incorporation of JIPL".

The penalty was issued after investigations pointed out that the funds in the firm have been remitted in an irregular manner and shares were allegedly issued in violation of forex rules stipulated and framed by the RBI. The agency issued the first penalty order against Rajasthan Royals in mid-2011 and it recently moved the FEMA Adjudicating Authority in Delhi to vet its investigation in this case and issue final orders.

The penalty order states that the ED probe has found that foreign investments of the firm were in contravention of Section 6 of FEMA which deals with transfer or issue of security by a person resident outside India, and other sub-sections of the said Act.

The agency, during its probe, relied on the bank documents and statements made by the directors and investors of Rajasthan Royals.

The ED has issued almost 24 show cause notices, amounting Rs 2000 crore, under FEMA against various IPL franchises and the BCCI in the probe in these cases.

Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra also have stake in the franchise, which defied the odds to become the inaugural IPL champion.