NEW DELHI, April 22: A leading Indian field hockey official resigned on Tuesday after an undercover television probe caught him allegedly accepting bribes to include a player in the national team.

Kandaswamy Jothikumaran, secretary-general of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for the last 14 years, denied corruption but stepped down after the TV programme late on Monday snowballed into a major controversy.

“It’s disgraceful,” IHF chief Kanwar Pal Gill said in response. “I have no words to condemn such an act. He was shown taking money. What is there for me to say?

“Jothikumaran talked to me over phone and informed me that he has resigned and will not be associated with the Federation until his name was cleared.”

The Hindi-language channel Aaj Tak approached Jothikumaran through three undercover reporters posing as businessmen keen to organise an international tournament.

Jothikumaran was shown accepting 200,000 Indian rupees ($5,000) to look into the matter and demanded another 300,000 rupees once the tournament was approved.

The reporters, who met Jothikumaran over two days on April 10 and 11, then asked him if an unidentified player – picked randomly by the channel from a list of probables – could be included in the national team.

TV footage apparently showed Jothikumaran promising to support the player’s inclusion even as he accepted cash from the reporters and put it in a bag.

Jothikumaran denied any corruption, saying he accepted the money to start preparing for the proposed tournament and not for any player’s selection.

“I was genuinely under the impression that a proposal for conducting a big tournament was being debated with me,” Jothikumaran told the local media.

“At no point of time did I raise anything about selection. The money they allege that I had taken was, in my opinion, to meet the initial expenses for organising the event in India.”

Former India captains Pargat Singh and Dhanraj Pillay called for criminal proceedings against Jothikumaran and a full investigation.

“I can’t imagine anything more shameful,” said Singh. “The name of Indian hockey has been rubbed in the dust. “He should be arrested and the sports ministry should investigate.”

Pillay added: “This gives the government a chance to clean the mess in our hockey. It should open the eyes of those who matter at the top.”

Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill said he was confident that the IHF will conduct an inquiry into the bribery claims.

“While a detailed inquiry must be held in the shortest possible time, I am of the firm view such officials have no place in the administration of sport,” he said.

Indian hockey is already reeling after failing to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since the sport was introduced as a medal sport in 1928. Once masters of the sport, India won the last of their eight Olympic gold medals at the western-boycotted Moscow Games in 1980.

Last year the International Hockey Federation (FIH), concerned at falling standards, devised a promotional project designed to raise the level. FIH president Els van Breda Vriesman warned Indian hockey officials last month that they could miss out on hosting the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi if the project was not implemented immediately.—AFP