Dehradun: An SOG team has been set up to ascertain the whereabouts of seven people associated with the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) functionaries, including its secretary Mahim Verma, booked for assaulting and threatening a young cricketer.Verma on Friday approached the Uttarakhand High Court seeking a stay on his arrest. His plea is likely to be heard on Tuesday, court sources said.A team of the Special Operations Group (SOG) has been constituted to assist the investigating officer in tracking down the seven people booked in connection with the case and arrest them if necessary, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Janmejay Khanduri said. Seven people associated with the CAU, including Verma, team coach Manish Jha, Piyoosh Kumar Raghuvanshi, Navneet Mishra, Satyam Sharma, Sanjay Gusain and Parul, have been booked on charges of assault, extortion and criminal intimidation of 21-year-old batsman Arya Sethi.The alleged incident dates back to December 2021.According to the FIR lodged on the basis of a complaint by the cricketer"s father Virendra Sethi, his son was assaulted and threatened by Jha when he was playing the Vijay Hazare Tournament in Rajkot.The matter later reached Verma who instead of trying to bring about a rapproachement, spoke to Jha, Mishra and Raghuvanshi about the matter and then threatened to have his son "shot dead", the father claimed.When the cricketer"s father met Verma and requested him to look after his son"s career, the CAU secretary demanded Rs 10 lakh from him and threatened to kill him and ruin his son"s career if he did not pay, according to the complaint. —PTI
