Less than two months before the 34th National Games are scheduled to start here, Jharkhand Governor K Sankaranarayanan has sacked the Director (Sports), P C Mishra. In a notification issued on Thursday, Mishra has been replaced by IPS officer S N Pradhan.

The move comes a week after R K Anand, president of the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) and a member of the National Games Organising Committee (NGOC), announced on September 24 that Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar had been roped in as the brand ambassadors for the National Games that are set to be held here from November 21-December 5.

Both Mishra and Secretary (Sports) R S Verma opposed the move, more so when the NGOC sought payment of Rs 4 crore and Rs 1 crore to Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif respectively. “The decision was not approved by the NGOC. Moreover, there are no funds earmarked for brand ambassadors,” said Verma.

However, Mishra, an Indian Forest Service officer who was posted as Director (Sports) on May 7, 2007, has also been accused of making unilateral decisions earlier. He is alleged to have hired WIZCRAFT, the event management company which had organised the National Games in Hyderabad and Guwahati, without the consent of the NGOC. There have also been charges of corruption amid allegations that the NGOC purchased sports equipment at higher prices.