A group of influential and senior members of the club have lamented that the reputation of Bangalore Turf Club has been brought down by the actions of the Managing Committee members in the recent past and have called for an enquiry into their acts of commission and omission. The members who are signatories to the letter written to the Chairman of the Club include Dr T S Ravindra, Ashok Raghavan, Aravind Raghavan, Zeyn Mirza, Sanjay Reddy, Vinod Shivappa, Uday Garudachar, Arjun Sajnani and Naval R Narielwala.

The letter states that the following members whose names and signatures are attached below, have been observing various incidents which have occurred in the club in the last few years and especially in the recent past which has led to a significant damage to the reputation of the club and its members before the Government of Karnataka and public at large. `There seems to be a public perception that there are several ills plaguing the club and that there is nepotism, corruption, and wrongdoing at the highest level of the management of the club.

``The perception has been triggered in most cases by internal squabbles amongst the members of the club and the racing fraternity in a bid to show each other in poor light in public eye. We members are deeply concerned for the fair image and reputation of the club and are of the strong opinion that an enquiry has to be initiated into the matters listed in the memorandum and to unravel the reasons for the gradual degeneration of the image of the club and to send a strong signal to all the members that their activities have only been detrimental to the interest of the club. ‘`

Among the other issues raised, the memorandum talks about the letter written by the former Chairman to the Chief Minister; appointment of casual staff without following procedures, betting by managing committee members and overseas travel by the members of the managing committee, solar project proposal and opening and closing of OCBC centres.

The charges made by the members are grave and demand a serious and thorough enquiry. Many believe that a few of the Stewards are reportedly benami owners. The Articles of the Association of Bangalore Turf Club prohibits racehorse owners and their immediate family members as defined in the Articles, from becoming Stewards. To overcome this, they have resorted to the unhealthy practice of owning horses as benami. One of the Stewards reportedly has interest in several horses. He is seen interacting with a trainer every morning, discussing the race programme, standing in the trainers` stand. The professionals are quite vocal about this fact and they have raised questions of propriety.

The reason why the government banned horse owners from becoming Stewards in Karnataka was to prevent them from acting in their own interest after a series of questionable decisions were taken to suit their own interests in the mid-80s. This Steward also goes to the starting gates every time the horses in which he supposedly has an interest is in the lineup. One of the issues that the CID enquired into was whether any instruction was being passed on by the Stewards at the starting gates for betting consideration. This sort of action also evokes suspicion of nepotism. The Stewards need to ensure that they are not targets for this suspicion.

The charge about betting by the managing committee members which the members have alluded to is serious and deserves to be investigated by the Monitoring Committee. The members have pointed out that one of the conditions imposed by the Government of Karnataka to issue the betting license to the BTC is that No Steward or Member of the Managing Committee shall be directly or indirectly seen to be involved. The members have said that it is a common knowledge that some of the members of the Managing Committee have/had indulged in betting openly even while in the office as members of the Managing Committee without even considering the consequential effect it could have on the very existence of the club in the event of the license being revoked. The members have demanded that an enquiry into the betting indulged by the Members of the Managing Committee be done and suitable action taken against such members who have violated the above conditions seriously jeopardising the interest of the club.

These charges are not made by the media but by the respected members themselves. Does the Managing Committee have the courage to deny entry to these people or accept that there are grave areas that need to be investigated?