BCCI President N Srinivasan at War with his Gay Son Ashwin

IPL and Cricket is always under Controversy. BCCI President N Srinivasan has come under scanner when the rivalry between him and his son has come to picture. His Son Ashwin has been reported to be Gay which Srinivasan vehemently opposes. Now the fight has emerged out of the Family, as per a report published in DNA

Ashwin, son of BCCI president N Srinivasan, has accused his father of homophobia and of using his clout to unleash a cycle of violence against him and his partner Avi Mukherjee in order to ‘cure’ him of homosexuality.

Ashwin, 43, says he and his partner have been subjected to physical and mental torture at Srinivasan’s behest for years. He says the latest incident took place on April 30, when the police picked up the couple from an upmarket Bandra restaurant-pub Escobar and beat them with iron rods.

DCP Pratap Dighaonkar says that the Bandra police arrived at Escobar on April 30 in response to a call from the restaurant-pub complaining that the couple had refused to pay their Rs28,000 bill.

According to him, the couple wanted drinks served beyond the 1.30am deadline and picked up a fight with the waiters when they refused. “They were detained after Ashwin punched a constable,” says Dighaonkar.

But the couple, who are in hiding now, trashed the police version and provided photographs to show how brutally they were beaten up while in custody.

Avi told DNA that he met Escobar owner Rakesh Luthria at a suburban hospital. He says Luthria offered Avi and Ashwin a treat at his restaurant-pub which is how they landed up there on April 30.

They said they reached around 1am and were informed that final orders were being taken. “We asked them to call Rakesh, ordered two drinks and were told this was the last order. However, once done, the waiters were glad to ply us with more. With no sign of Rakesh, we ordered a few more drinks and a bottle of champagne which they suggested,” says Ashwin.

“We were taking it easy when the waiters began hassling us to pay the bill. I said we would once we were done, but they argued. I raised my voice saying they’d have to wait. Suddenly, as if on cue, 12 policemen sprang out from behind the bar armed with iron rods and started beating Avi mercilessly.”

They were taken to Bandra police station lock-up and allegedly beaten till they passed out. They got bail the next day.

The duo says that in Chennai in 2002 they were beaten up brutally and kept in solitary confinement. “I was kept in a dark room and administered drugs,” says Ashwin, adding that he then sought help from Ashok Row Kavi, a fact the gay rights activist confirmed.

“I feared for their lives and helped the duo flee the country to escape Ashwin’s father’s wrath,” says Kavi.

“My father has said openly that Avi is a parasite who has dragged me into homosexuality because he wants my money. Given his immense powers, it’s been very rough on Avi,” says Ashwin. He added that he picked up documents to expose how Srinivasan was misusing his (Ashwin’s) NRI status to launder money thinking it would protect Avi and him. “Instead, that has put us in more danger.”

Srinivasan refused to comment. “What is happening is a private family matter. I am not going to comment on that.” When questioned on the money-laundering charges, he said, “I still maintain I do not want to go public and make any comment. Children may make any kind of charge against parents. But as a parent one only wishes the child well and does what is good for him in the long run.”

We were intimated that all our money is being cut off. We’ll now be left with nothing for the rent, transport, health care etc,” complains Ashwin, adding, “It is not like we were wastrels who wanted to live off my father. I’m an MBA from Cornell university in Finance and my partner once headed creative departments in Grey’s worldwide, RK Swamy/BBDO’s and Mudra DDB.”

“After years of violence, persecution and administering of drugs, we’ve become totally professionally and socially isolated and dependent on the very man we want to get away from. Can you begin to understand the hurt and humiliation over how much power he still has over me and my partner?” he says.

“I know my father. This is the only way to hit him where it hurts the most.” He now says he wants to take this fight to the finish.

“I am not going to give up without fighting. All I am asking for is my rightful share. I’ve lost the best years of my life in my 20s and 30s and I will make sure my father pays for it.” Bitter about his father’s latest decision to cut off his money, he says, “If the great N Srinivasan wants a messy war, I’ll give it to him.”

As he hobbles around the apartment with his hurt feet, he weeps as he recounts the nightmarish beginning of the violence in 2002. “I was cajoled into leaving Mumbai for Chennai saying that I needed to sign some papers. No sooner had I left the Taj, Colaba, where we were staying, two men called Prakash and Jagdeesan, who claimed they were Tamil Nadu CID police, barged into the room and brought Avi to Chennai too on air tickets booked by my father’s company ICL. They took us to the ICL guest house, stripped and beat us and made us lick their shoes in front of my father’s confidante Shankaran.”

As he gets worked up, he opens up more on what he calls the financial wrong-doings of his father. “He’s made piles of money in my name using my status as NRI for nine years with the help of his late friend Peter Tudball who headed the Baltic exchange. Several offshore companies were started.” Ashwin mentions one Belthorn Investment Group Ltd. “I was shown owning 5,000 shares but the declaration shows that only my parents were allowed to transfer, deal with or dispose them off.”

(Portions of this Report has been reproduced from DNA)