The governing body of football in West Bengal — Indian Football Association — has fined three Mohammedan Sporting officials for rowdy behaviour against referee and match officials.
The three — Mohammad Kamaruddin, Raju Ahmed and Bilal — were found guilty of heckling match officials during the Calcutta Football League premier division match against Tollygunge Agragami on September 5.
The three officials were charged with manhandling referee Pranjal Banerjee and his assistants after their team lost 5-3 against Agragami, which ended their team’s title chances. Mohammad Kamaruddin, who was alleged to have led the offence, was given a penalty of Rs. 2 lakh while the two other two were fined Rs. 50,000 each.
Deciding on another reported incident, the IFA let off BNR FC’s Nigerian striker James Endurance with a warning.
The state body decided to leave the player with a reprimand after a probe on whether James had made any indecent gesture towards lady referee Kanika Barman during his team’s outing against Mohun Bagan on September 9 did not reveal any conclusive evidence. Neither the referee nor the match commissioner had reported of any such incident and the IFA acted on reports appearing in a section of the media.