In a significant turn of events that has rocked the cricketing and political spheres of Telangana, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) President Jaganmohan Rao has been arrested by the CID on serious charges related to the latest IPL season. The incident pertains to alleged intimidation and illegal demands for more IPL match tickets from the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) franchise.
Sources privy to SRH disclosed that although the team had distributed the usual 10% quota of tickets to the HCA according to official norms, Jaganmohan Rao reportedly insisted on an additional 10% of tickets with no formal accord. When SRH refused, Rao is said to have threatened to stop matches and went so far as to seal the hospitality boxes at the Uppal Stadium. This strong-arming forced the franchise to look at relocating its home games to a different stadium.
The controversy soon attracted the attention of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who directed a vigilance inquiry into the case. The investigation not only corroborated SRH’s allegations but also uncovered plans to sell the other tickets in black for resale on the black market. In the wake of the report, CID officials acted fast to arrest Jaganmohan Rao and others involved in the racket.
Although the HCA subsequently issued a written guarantee not to insist on additional tickets above the authorized quota, the harm to its reputation was irreversible. SRH, which shelled out more than ₹1 crore per game for renting a stadium, had honored all the contractual terms, and the HCA’s behavior appeared to be unethical and exploitative.
Fueling the controversy is Jaganmohan Rao’s established connection with the seniormost opposition leaders of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), further raising political hackles and mounting the fallout. What started as a controversy regarding sports administration has now become a big one, agitating cricketing organizations as well as state politics.