Jagrick Dey: City giant East Bengal sent a mail to All India Football Federation that they want a panel of international referees who would conduct the I-League match between league leaders Minerva Punjab FC and East Bengal as it would decide the fate about who would be the champion of this season. Beside that in the mail the Red & Gold Brigade also stated that Ranjit Bajaj, the owner of Minerva Punjab F.C. has raised concerns on ‘Match Fixing’ prior before their match against East Bengal on the 30th January ’18. His allegations are very serious in nature if found to be true. However if they are are baseless and false, then he and the other concerned Minerva F.C. senior officials should be seriously reprimanded/suspended and taken to task for making such irresponsible statement. After knowing this matter Ranjit shares his thought with www.xtratime.in. Here goes the conversation:
XT: East Bengal has sent a mail to the AIFF that they want foreign referees to conduct the match between Minerva Punjab FC and East Bengal. What is your thought regarding this matter?
Ranjit: I totally agree with their thought that AIFF should appoint foreign referees to conduct our match against them as it would be a title deciding game. The refereeing is not at all up to the mark in this season.
XT: So what is your problem with this letter?
Ranjit: I totally disagree with their third point. They have asked for my suspension, and asked AIFF to suspend me before the 13th February game if they don’t find any valid proof. They are trying to prove that I had given false statement regarding match fixing. You know if the fans said this, I wouldn’t comment on anything but East Bengal club is saying this against me which is really painful. The other clubs have openly supported me in this matter and I was kind of in shock after knowing about this mail.
XT: What is the current status of the investigation of your match fixing allegations?
Ranjit: One should ask the AIFF about what they are doing on this case. We had given all the information regarding the matter but they haven’t sent any official mail or anything about this.
XT: Do you think that the referee gave a wrong decision during the match between Minerva and Shillong Lajong on a crucial moment?
Ranjit: I know that was a valid goal for Shillong but what can I do about it if the referee denied the goal. A lot of people saying that I have bought the referees which is nothing but baseless.