RCA to file criminal complaint against Shane Warne

Rajasthan Cricket Association on Sunday decided to lodge a criminal complaint against Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne at a local court for allegedly abusing its secretary Sanjay Dixit after an IPL match here, ignoring the apology from the legendary Australian.

The Legal Affairs Committee of RCA held a meeting and considered the apology letter sent by Royals CEO Sean Morris but was unable to take cognizance in the absence of any details.

Accordingly, the committee decided to file a criminal complaint under IPC sections against Warne and others at the earliest.

“It is an aggravated offence and it needs to be dealt with like that. Some kind of disciplinary action is to be taken. I don’t know what kind of disciplinary action has been taken. A mere statement was being made and nothing more has been done, just proverbial red-herring,” Dixit said.

The ugly incident happened on May 11 when Warne allegedly called Dixit a liar and egoistic after the award ceremony of the IPL tie between Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal Challengers at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here.

Warne was disappointed with Dixit for not acceding to his request for a favourable pitch for the match and allegedly walked up to Dixit and abused him for not replying to his messages. Royals owner Shilpa Shetty had to intervene and apologise for the incident.

A committee has also been formed consisting of Rajkumar Mathur, Ashok Joshi and Akhilesh Mittal to probe Rajasthan Royals’ claim that they got the pitches they wanted so far in the tournament.

The committee would go into all aspect of the pitch preparation in the first edition of IPL in which Rajasthan surprised all by winning the title.

The legal committee also discussed the matter of Australian commentator Dean Jones who had made some derogatory remarks against the RCA.

The convener of the committee and the vice president of the RCA Rajkumar Mathur said the criminal case would also be filed in this matter under IPC sections and RCA would also go into civil action.

“The matter of Dean Jones who stated on a TV channel that ’RCA should lick Shane Warne’s feet’ was considered and his remarks were taken to be a direct insult to RCA as an institution.

“RCA team is current national champion of the country which is not only the world champion but is also the number one test playing nation. A team of lawyers would examine any other implication of this obnoxious statement and take appropriate action, a criminal complaint under IPC sections and would also go for civil action,” he said.