Untraceable organisers, anxious players and lakhs worth of unpaid bills – an FIR in the Indian Heaven Premier League (IHPL) “scam” lays bare the ordeal of over 50 domestic and international cricketers and their support staff who were left stranded for hours after the organisers fled.
The FIR, registered on the basis of multiple complaints, accuses Parminder Singh, chairman of league organisers Yuva Society Mohali of cheating and criminal breach of trust. Players allege they were lured to Srinagar with promises of professional contracts, participation payments and full hospitality, only to find themselves stuck for hours when the organisers disappeared without settling dues.
Among those stranded at Srinagar’s Radisson Collection, Hotel and Spa were well-known players such as Praveen Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Iqbal Abdullah and Anureet Singh.
Police sources said the FIR was based on three separate complaints — from local players, international support staff, and the hotel management. In his complaint on behalf of the players and support staff, Srinagar Sultans team manager Zubair Bashir said they were all “kept waiting at the hotel premises as the hotel management has refused to let us leave until their bills are cleared or any settlement is being done”.
“The entire situation has caused panic, distress, and humiliation to everyone involved,” the FIR (56/2025) quotes the complainant as saying. It recounts how organisers had claimed the IHPL was an “officially approved” tournament in Srinagar, promising professional contracts, participation payments and full hospitality.
“Based on these representations, we travelled from across India and abroad to participate in the league, which was scheduled at Bakshi Stadium, Srinagar and other venues,” the FIR quotes the complaint as saying.
It further alleges that the organisers had booked rooms at the hotel assuring players that “all hotel charges would be paid directly by them as part of the official league arrangements”.
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“Today (November 1), the organisers absconded from the hotel in the early morning hours and (left) support staff behind without paying the hotel bills and settling our professional dues,” the complaint states, adding that the hotel management stopped players from leaving until payments were made.
The complaint also notes that the organisers “have switched off their mobile phones and are untraceable”.
“There is a strong reason to believe that they have fraudulently misappropriated funds collected for the league and cheated players, vendors, and the hotel,” it alleges, adding that around 50 players and staff were affected. “We have suffered mental trauma, financial hardship, and public embarrassment because of the organiser’s illegal actions.”
The IHPL was a private cricket league organised by a group called Yuva Society Mohali in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium. Its website describes IHPL as “India’s new cricketing movement uniting sports, youth and tourism in the heart of Jammu and Kashmir”.
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As it’s a private league, it doesn’t come under the banner of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association or the Indian cricket board, Board of Control for Cricket in India. Among players featured in the tournament were retired overseas stars such as Chris Gayle and New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder.
