BCCI stops benefit payment to Kirti Azad

The BCCI may have dropped his name from the list of former cricketers who will get one-time benefit payment but a defiant Kirti Azad has said that he will not stop from raising his voice against the Indian Premier League and the Board.

According to sources, the BCCI scratched the name of Azad from the list of beneficiaries for the one-time payment following his fast at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground in protest against the alleged financial irregularities in the IPL.

There is no official word from the BCCI yet on this issue.

Azad said he has not been contacted by the BCCI on whether his name has been removed from the list.

"I have not received any intimation from the BCCI so far.

Neither has anyone contacted me," he said.

Asked if he would accept the one-time payment if the Board decides to give it to him, Azad said, "The question of acceptance or refusal of the payment arises only when they get in touch me.

"But if they think that they can stop me from raising my voice by doing that, then they are wrong," said Azad, one of the members of the 1983 World Cup winning team and now a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament.

Azad, who is to get Rs 35 lakh under the BCCI scheme, said he will continue protesting against the IPL and the Board.

"The skeletons of IPL have been coming out in the open and I will continue protesting whenever I see any kind of wrongdoings," he said.

Azad was non-committal when asked whether he was getting monthly pension from the BCCI as a former cricketer.

"I am not aware if I am getting the pension or not. I have to ask my chartered accountant as to whether I have been getting my pension. I am not aware," he said.

Azad said he has written a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take action against IPL for various financial irregularities.

"I have already written a letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asking what action the government intends to take on the allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, foreign exchange violation by the IPL," he said.