The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged Bhatinda-based umpire Jatin Kashyap for breaching its anti-corruption code following an investigation into "international matches in 2022".
The ICC did not specify the incidents related to the breach. Kashyap has officiated in district-level matches in Punjab but is not on the BCCI panel.
Kashyap has not officiated even in district matches in the last four years and had vanished from State cricket's umpiring circuit till the global body sought his background from Punjab Cricket Association (PCA).
Kashyap has been charged with "failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Unit’s [ACU] investigation in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code including [without limitation] concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct under the Code," read an ICC statement.
PCA secretary Dilsher Khanna insisted that ICC charges against Mr. Kashyap have nothing to do with the game in the state.
"The charges have nothing to do with Punjab cricket. The release makes it clear that he has been charged following an investigation into international games," Khanna said.
The ICC has given Kashyap 14 days to respond to the charges.
"In accordance with Code Article 4.6.6, Mr. Kashyap has 14 days from 19 May to respond to the charges. The ICC will not make any further comment in respect of these charges at this stage," the ICC release added.
While ICC officials don't want to reveal more, sources in the know of things said that Mr. Kashyap must have been either a conduit between bookies or suspected individuals, who might have featured in the "Persons of Interest" list of the ACU.
"If you look at the charges pressed, it doesn't seem Kashyap is a bookie but may be a go-between, whose whereabouts were being tracked during international games," a BCCI source in the know of things told PTI.