Indian detectives name four top cricketers in
match-fixing: reports
AFP - 21 October 2000
NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (AFP) - Federal Indian detectives probing corruption in
domestic cricket have charged four national players, including whistle blower Manoj
Prabhakar, with match-fixing, newspapers said here on Saturday.
The Indian Express and The Statesmen in almost identical reports said the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also named former captain Mohammad
Azharuddin, Ajay Jadega, Ajay Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar in its match-fixing
report.
None of the four are part of the Indian squad which is currently in Sharjah.
The CBI report, however, has not levelled any charges against former coach and
Indian cricket icon Kapil Dev, both the newspapers said.
Ironically, it was Prabhakar who in June kicked off a storm in India with his claims
that Kapil Dev had offered him 2.5 million rupees (56,000 dollars) to underplay in a
1994 clash with arch-rival Pakistan.
Kapil vehemently denied the allegation and later stepped down as the national coach
saying he was fed up with the game.
CBI officials were not immediately available for their comments on the newspaper
reports which allegedly came from the 210-page CBI document.
The eagerly-awaited CBI findings are to be handed over shortly to Indian Sports
Minister S.S. Dhindsa before its presentation in parliament next month.
The Express said around one dozen bookies who were questioned by the CBI in
New Delhi and Bombay were found to be in ``regular touch with these four Indian
cricketers.''
``The report says that Ajay Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar were the key players in
the most shameful saga in India's cricketing history,'' The Express said.
While Sharma handled local bookies, Prabhakar was in touch with overseas
bookmakers and corrupt players, the report alleged, according to The Express.
The daily said the CBI linked the named players to the scam by screening the calls
they had allegedly made to bookies on their mobile telephones.
``If Azharuddin made 60-odd calls in a single day to a bookie from his cellphone,
Ajay Jadeja was found to have made 50 phone calls from his mobile phone to
another bookie on another day,'' The Express said.
The Statesmen also named the four national players and added that the CBI report has also pointed
fingers at officials of the Board for the Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in its match-fixing report.
``The CBI report focuses on some BCCI officials manipulating playing conditions to suit bookies.
Investigators have looked carefully at matches decided by a narrow margin,'' The Statesman said on its
front page.
Former International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya and cricket board treasurer Kishore
Rungta were among the administrators questioned by the CBI during its six-month probe.
``Bribe in cash and kind was paid both in India and abroad to the players and their family members,''
Statesman quoted an unnamed CBI official as saying.
The matches allegedly fixed include India's fixtures against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and New
Zealand,'' the daily said, adding that further details would be unveiled by Dhindsa.
The Delhi Police opened the Pandora's Box in April when it charged then South African captain Hansie
Cronje and four of his teammates with match-fixing in March during South Africa's tour of India.
The disgraced skipper later told a South African commission that Azharuddin was one of the players
involved in match-fixing.
what happend to Kapel Dave?