Celebrity Cricket League postponed, cases filed against attackers

After the chaotic altercations happened at the Celebrity Cricket League on Friday night, organisers have postponed the league until further notice.

They also informed the media that cases have been filed against the assaulters on Friday night’s game at the Mirpur Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium in the capital.

The brawl took place during a friendly group match between two teams headed by filmmakers Mostafa Kamal Raz and Dipankar Dipon, resulting in several players being injured, and six of them were taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation in the capital.

On Saturday night, the organisers arranged a press conference at the venue where the league was supposed to be concluded on the same day, instead, they had to clarify the foreseeable future surrounding the teams and the league itself.

The two team captains were present at the press conference, along with producer Arshad Adnan, who said neither Raz nor Dipon were behind the incident, but the organisers have evaluated the available video footage from multiple sources and filed cases against them.

However, the name of the police station and the alleged assaulters were not revealed at the press conference.

“The regrettable situation that occurred yesterday (September 29) is quite distressing. Everyone saw that we did not initiate the fight; it began when four or five individuals suddenly assaulted us. They were dressed in supporter t-shirts, and the assaulters even threatened one of our players, actor Manoj Pramanik,” said Dipankar Dipon.

“My assistant was brutally attacked by being thrown to the ground. We were stunned, wondering: who are they and where did they come from? After the incident, we demanded from the authorities that we would not leave the field if the situation failed to get resolved. They asked us for one day, and credit goes to them for taking action in the meantime,” he added.

Meanwhile, producer Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Raj has apologised for his team’s behaviour. "I‍‍`m sorry," he said. “I am ashamed of this unexpected incident. Legal action has also been taken against those involved in my party. Since we belong to the same family, we are the ones who solved the matter.”

Mostafa Kamal Raj‍‍`s team won the toss and elected to bat on Friday. They scored 119 runs in the stipulated six overs. Dipankar Dipan‍‍`s team was scoring runs at a proportional rate when they came out to bat for a big score. But in the end, they lost by 7 runs. The team scored 112 runs in the stipulated 6 overs. The fight broke out after the match.

On the other hand, Mostafa Kamal Raz apologised for the behaviour of his team. At the press conference, he said, "I wholeheartedly apologise and am ashamed of this unexpected incident. Legal action has also been taken against the assaulters who were on my team. As we are members of the same family, our showbiz industry, we resolved the matter internally among ourselves.”

The organisers, however, did not clarify whether the league will resume shortly or will restart entirely. They did not provide a tentative timeline as well, but informed that it would be announced soon.