The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has lodged a complaint with Delhi police, alleging that it has received an anonymous call issuing threats to life and property of its president Kalyan Chaubey. An AIFF official lodged the complaint for “registration of FIR against unknown miscreants” at the Dwarka Sector 23 police station on Thursday. The complaint said that the AIFF office, also located at Dwarka, received a call on September 10 issuing “threats to the life and property of not only Chaubey but also his family.” “Delhi police has received a complaint at Dwarka Sector 23 police station and are conducting an inquiry,” a senior police officer told PTI.

The AIFF has been dogged with controversies in recent times, ranging from the sacking of its former secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran to accusation of corruption against Chaubey by its former legal head.

Chaubey, who was elected as AIFF president in September 2022, has denied the charges.

In a rare show of camaraderie, supporters of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan gathered near the Salt Lake Stadium to protest against alleged rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Amid the ongoing protests in Kolkata, the first derby of the season between the two bitter rivals was cancelled on the eve of the match, on Saturday. The All India Football Association (AIFF) chief Kalyan Chaubey also joined the protest outside the iconic Salt Lake Stadium.

Protests have been rampant in Kolkata over the past week or so over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

In order to avoid a similar situation inside the stadium, the Kolkata derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan was cancelled on Saturday.

Reports had also claimed that the Durand Cup organisers were also considering to shift the match outside Kolkata, with Jamshedpur leading the race to host the match.

Chaubey, however, criticised the decision to cancel the match, and was also not in favour to shift the matches outside Kolkata.

“The first derby match of the season between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan was scheduled to be held today and the number of police personnel that has been deployed here to stop this match and to arrest the supporters who had come to watch the match, if even half of them were deployed then this match would have taken place today. East Bengal, Mohun Bagan matches should be held here,” Chaubey told the reporters during the protest.

Chaubey also demanded that the cluprit(s) behind the alleged rape and murder of the woman doctor must be punished.

“I believe that football is not involved in any politics, it is above all religion, caste. I am fully confident that if you organize the match here, there will be no ruckus, no unrest in the football ground, I am fully confident that all the people will support their teams peacefully but the match should not be shifted from here…The people of football also want that the culprit should be caught as soon as possible and the culprit should be punished,” he added.