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Match Fixing - a report

	newdelhi.net ! SPORT	Match Fixing
Chronology of events Match Fixing - terminology Betting-History Betting-Procedure Major bookies and punters Betting-Dimensions Cricketer/Officials questioned Foreign players Legal Position Latest Stories... Azhar appears before Madhavan, examination on CBI report has no legal sanctity, says Joginder Singh Irani, Ajay Jadeja, Mongia questioned Madhavan to question Kapil Income Tax dept to proceed against tainted cricketers	Cricketers/Officials Questioned: AJAY SHARMA Ajay Sharma, the former Indian player stated that he first played cricket for Delhi in 1984 when Mohinder Amrarnath was the captain. He played for India for the first time in 1987 and has in all played one test match and 33 one day internationals. Ajay Sharma played league cricket in Delhi, and in one of the league matches he played for the Sonnet Club in the Ram Charan Aggarwal tournament in the late 1980s, in a ground near Town Hall, Delhi, he scored a century. The spectators watching the match were happy and surrounded him on his way back to the pavilion. Some people also put some money in his pockets as a gesture. From the ground, he was escorted by his friend Sanjay Bharadwaj and some policemen. One of the persons from the crowd had dropped some money in his front shirt pocket about whom his friend Sanjay Bharadwaj later asked if he recognised that person. On his expressing ignorance about the person, Sanjay Bharadwaj had told him that the man who had put money in his pocket was "M K Gupta", who was involved in betting in cricket matches. He denied that he provided information regarding weather, pitch etc to M K Gupta during the Indian Team's tour to New Zealand in 1990. But he remembered that M K had rung up his hotel room during the New Zealand tour in 1990 and had talked to Manoj Prabhakar. After the New Zealand tour, Ajay Sharma was dropped from the Indian Team scheduled to tour England and it was during this period that he personally introduced Manoj Prabhakar M K Gupta on the insistence of M K Gupta. Thereafter, he lost touch with M K Gupta who became close to Manoj Prabhakar. About the Ranji Trophy Quarter Final match between Mumbai and Delhi held at Delhi in 1991, Ajay Sharma stated that, in that particular year Bishen Singh Bedi had taken some court order due to which Ranji Trophy matches were delayed and that some of the Delhi players including himself and Manoj Prabhakar, Maninder Singh, Atul Wassan, Bhaskar Pillai etc were scheduled to play league cricket in England that year. However, since Ranji Trophy matches were delayed, if Delhi had won that round, the next round would have clashed with league commitments in England. In view of this, the players collectively decided to lose the match against Bombay. Bombay won this match on Ist innings lead of one run. Ajay Sharma further stated that during 1993-94, he wanted to purchase a Zen Car on which there was a 'black' of Rs 15,000 and as he did not have the money to pay the 'black', he contacted M K Gupta, who paid him the required Rs 15,000. Thus his contacts with M K Gupta got renewed. Sometime around that period, he met Azharuddin in Madras at Hotel Chola Sheraton. Ajay Sharma was in Madras playing the Buchi Babu Tournament. During his meeting with Azharuddin, Azhar asked him if he could get someone to sponsor a fashion-show and charity cricket matches which would cost around rupees one crore. He told Azhar that he would talk to someone whom he knew in Delhi and he approached M K Gupta. M K Gupta agreed to provide to Rs one crore and he arranged a meeting for Azhar with M K Gupta in Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi in 1995. For arranging this meeting and introducing Azhar to M K Gupta he was paid Rs 5 lakhs by M K Gupta. Later, after about a month and half, Azhar rang him up and informed that the person he had introduced had paid him the money. Azhar also told him that M K Gupta was talking to him about 'making" cricket matches to which he told Azhar that he could consider it. Later, when M K Gupta and Azher met him in Delhi, M K Gupta told Azhar that there was no need to pay back the money as it could be adjusted against the cricket matches that would be 'made.' Ajay Sharma further stated that once he ad introduced Azhar to M K Gupta, they kept him out from their dealings and he, therefore, could not say specifically which matches they had fixed. However, during the Triangualar Titan Cup Series in 1996 in India in which South Africa and Australia were also taking part, some complications arose between Azhar and M K Gupta. The latter two had decided to fix matches during the series but the result of one match did not turn out to be as arranged and M K Gupta lost a lot of money. M K Gupta held him also responsible for his loss as it was he who had introduced Azhar to M K Gupta and M K asked him to accompany him to Hyderabad after just after the series to talk to Azhar regarding the loss suffered by him. He further stated that he travelled with M K Gupta to Hyderabad and stayed in a hotel very close to Azhar's house in Banjara Hills. They met Azhar in Hyderabad, and during the meeting. Azhar promised M K Gupta that he would make up his loss in the ensuing Test Series against South Africa. Ajay Sharma also revealed that the other players through whom Azhar operated were Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia. As far as his knowledge goes, Ajay Jadeja, N S Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar also operated together. In fact, N S Sidhu once showed him a black bag containing a large sum of money and said that this was black money which would be converted into white by showing it was farm income. Ajay Sharma further stated that during the Australia tour of India in 1996, M K Gupta had approached him and asked him if he could have a pitch prepared at the Feroze Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi which would lead to a certain result and for which M K promised to reward him and the grounds man suitably. In this connection, he spoke to groundsman Choudhary at Feroz Shah Kotla and also arranged his meeting with M K Gupta near RajGhat. Choudhary accordingly prepared the desired wicket and a result was obtained in the test match in three and half days. After that match, Ajay Sharma told M K Gupta that he paid at least Rs 4-5 lakhs for getting the wicket prepared as per his instructions, but M K Gupta paid him only Rs 3 lacs of which ha gave Rs 50,000 to groundsman Choudhary and kept the remaining Rs 2.5 lakhs with himself. Sometime in mid 90s Ajay Sharma took Ajay Jadeja, along with a tall girl, to M K Gupta's house at Defence Colony at round 10.00 pm one night. The meeting was arranged at the instance of M K Gupta. Jadeja agreed to the meeting in spite of knowing that M K Gupta was a cricket bookie. At this meeting, Jadeja offered his services to M K Gupta to fix matches but M K wanted to know how many other players he could rope in. Not being satisfied with Jadeja's answer, the deal could not come through. However, M K Gupta paid Rs 50,000 to Jadeja during this meeting. Out of this amount, Jadeja gave Ajay Sharma Rs 18,000 and kept Rs 32,000 for himself saying that he wanted to buy a cellular phone which at that time cost around Rs 32,000. Ajay Sharma admitted that he knew Ajay Gupta, Ameesh Gupta and Gyan Chand Gupta and that he had introduced Ajay Gupta to Azhar. He was a regular visitor to Roshanara Club in Delhi where one Sanjay Anand who was involved in the management of the club was well known to him. Sanjay Anand once approached him and told him that he had heard that cricket matches were being fixed and a lot of money was being made, that he had a party with him who could invest money and requested him to introduce Azharuddin to his party. Sanjay Anand probably approached him to introduce Azhar as it was common knowledge that he was very close to Azhar. Sanjay Anand first introduced Ajay Sharma to Ajay Gupta. However, nothing came out of this meeting as Azhar was not the captain of the team at that time and Ajay Gupta said that nothing was possible unless Azhar became the captain. In 1998, when Azhar was the captain, Ajay Gupta asked Sanjay Anand to talk to him to introduce Ajay Gupta to Azharuddin. Accordingly, he talked to Azhar who agreed to meet Ajay Gupta and he arranged the meeting at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi, where an understanding to fix matches was reached. For arranging this meeting Ajay Gupta gave Rs 5 lakhs each to him and to Sanjay Anand. Sanjay Anand picked up this money from the office of Ajay Gupta. Ajay Gupta later introduced Ameesh Gupta, S/o Gyan Chand Gupta to Azhar. Azhar was also given a mobile phone no. 98111 50860 by the 'Guptas' for his use. He also stated that he knew through Sanjay Anand that all the three Guptas named earlier placed heavy bets with bookies during cricket matches. On being asked about the recent telephone calls made to Azhar just before or on the day of the matches, he stated that during these calls he used to wish Azhar "All the Best" and also asked him if he had spoken to the Guptas. On being asked about on Anil Saxena of the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi, Ajay Sharma stated that he was very close to Azhar and that he also used to keep Azhar's money in the lickers in Taj Palace Hotel. On one occasion, on the instructions of Azhar, he had deposited Rs. 15 lacs in the locker through Saxena in Taj Palace Hotel. He had received this money from Ajay Gupta on behalf of Azhar. During the 1999 World Cup in England, Ajay Sharma had requested Ajay Gupta to find him and his family to visit UK. Accordingly, Ajay Gupta arranged for his and his family's visit to England during World Cup 1999. Ajay Gupta also gave an affidavit in May, 1999 in his office at Central warehousing Corporation that Ajay Gupta would meet all his expenditure during his visit to the UK as Ajay Sharma could not have shown such an expenditure, being a Government Servant. On being asked as to whom the Opel Astra Car and mobile phone which were snatched from him in Gurgaon in January, 2000 belonged to, Ajay Sharma stated that the car belonged to Divya Nautiyal of Apace Finance Company and mobile phone was that of Ajay Gupta who had given it to him for his own use. He knows Divya Nautiyal for a very long time as they had played cricket together. He had invested around Rs. 5 lakhs with Divya Nautiyal of which he had been paid back only Rs. 1.5 lakh and the rest of the payment was stuck as the finance company was in trouble. He stated that Mohd. Azharuddin did not know Divya Nautiyal and both of them did no have any financial dealings also. According to Ajay Sharma, Nikhil Chopra had once approached him and asked him whether he knew some bookies who took bets on cricket matches, as Nikhil's 'Sala' (brother-in-law) was interested in betting. MANOJ PRABHAKAR About the alleged offer made to him by Kapil Dev during the Singer Cup, 1994 in Sri Lanka, Majoj Prabhakar stated that, during the Singer Cup, he and Navjyot Singh Sindu were room-mates in the hotel where the team was staying. The adjoining room in the hotel was connected to Manoj Prabhakar's room through a common door, and was occupied by Prashant Vaidya and Nayan Mongia. One day, when he was in the bath room, N.S. Sindhu called him and told him that 'Paaji' had come with some offer and wanted to talk to him. Thereafter, Kapil Dev told him that India had to lose the nextg match against Pakistan and Manoj Prabhakar will be paid Rs. 25 lacs to underperform in that match. Manoj Prabhakar stated that he was flabbergasted at this offer and shouted at Kapil Dev. N.S. Sindhu was also present in the room at that time. Thereafter, Prashant Vaidhya and a Bengali journalist, who was sitting in Prashant Vaidhya's room, came to Prabhakar's room on hearing the commotion and asked him what had happened. Manoj Prabhakar told Prashant Vaidhya that Kapil Dev had offered him money to underperform. After this incident, he reported the matter to Ajit Wadekar, Manager of the team and also to Mohd. Azharuddin, the Captain of the team. He also informed Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar who were doing commentary during that series, after a few days. On being asked whether Kapil Dev made this offer to some of the other players in the team also, Prabhakar stated that he had no proof to corroborate this. On being asked why he did not disclose these facts before the Justice Chandrachud Commission, he stated that he wanted to disclose everything but Justice Chandrachud told him that he would not record anything which he would disclose and hence did not see any point in mentioning Kapil Dev's offer to him. About his slow batting in the Kanpur One-Dayer against West Indies in 1994, Manoj stated that when Nayan Mongia came to bat, he told him that there were instructions from the dressing room that both of them should bat carefully and not lose their wickets. Nayan Mongia, till date, has not told him as to who was the person who had given him these instructions. According to Manoj, one Hiren Hathi is very close to Kapil Dev and operates as his agent. Also, Kapil Dev was a gambler and played cards for very high stakes. Similarly, Ajay Sharma is very close to Mohd. Azharuddin and acts as his agent. There was an incident in which the late Raman Lamba placed a bet of Rs. 50,000/- in Prabhakar's name without his knowledge in a particular match. The opposition was batting second and he was bowling the last ball of the match with one wicket to go and one run to win. Prabhakar got the last man out and won the game for India. Thereafter, he received a telephone call from an unknown person who claimed himself to be a bookie and threatened him and told him that he had lost around Rs. 85 lakhs. Once, when Manoj was in the BCCI office in Bombay, on Prakash Kelkar introduced him to an unknown person. The latter requested Manoj Prabhakar to introduce him to some of the Indian players playing at that point of time in New Zealand. When asked about the purpose, that person revealed that he had lost a lot of money and had to make up for it by fixing certain matches through some Indian players. According to Prabhakar, he did not believe this man, whereupon the latter told him that he would ring up Ajit Wadekar and Mohd. Azharuddin and that Manoj Prabhakar could listen to the conversation on a parallel line. Thereafter, that person allegedly rang up Ajit Wadekar and Mohd. Azharuddin. To his shock, Manoj Prabhakar heard that both of them had a positive attitude towards fixing matches. Manoj Prabhakar alleged that this particular person had informed the team management that Manoj Prabhakar knew all about their activities and, from then on, he was harassed continuously by cricket authorities. On being asked about his mobile phone print-out which disclosed a number of calls to known bookies/punters including Sanjiv Chawla, Rajesh Kalra Sunil Dara, Rattan Mehta, etc., Manoj Prabhakar stated that he had contacted them for the purpose of investigating match fixing allegations. He further stated that he knew Sanjeev Chawla since he visited the Gym at Hotel Park Royal and he was looking for an overseas partner for his cosmetics business and the telephone calls in his cell phone were in that connection. Rajesh Kalra is his friend and prints brochures for his cosmetic's business. He further stated that he also knew Sunil Dara who used to frequent the gym at Hotel Park Royal and, once or twice, he had asked Prabhakar about the outcome of cricket matches and he had given his opinion to Sunil Dara. He admitted that he knew Anand Saxena very well and had attended a few parties with him. Anand Saxena, on some occasions, had asked him to introduce cricket players to him but he had refused. Manoj Prabhakar admitted that he was introduced to M.K. Gupta by Ajay Sharma sometime in 1990 and he knew him as John and not as Mukesh Gupta. He stated that he had met Mukesh Gupta 5-6 times only but used to speak to him on the telephone. He father stated that he had seen Mukesh Gupta abroad also. He confessed that he had received money and that he used to receive only around Rs.25,000/- to Rs. 30,000/- for each piece of information. He was paid only when his information was of use to MK. On being asked whether MK had given him money to buy a Maruti Gypsy with wide tyres after the England tour in 1990, he stated that he had purchased a gypsy with wide tyres after the England tour but he himself had paid for it. Manoj denied introducing Dean Jones to MK. He further stated that after a festival match in Sri Lanka in early 1990's, he was in the same fight as MK. But they had booked their tickets separately and this was purely accidental. He denied that MK had ever visited his house in Ghaziabad. Manoj admitted having made a phone call to Gus Logie at MK's request, but Logie had refused to do anything for MK. He accepted that he introduced Mark Waugh to MK in Hong Kong during a six-a-side tournament. He also admitted introducing Brian Lara, Salim Malik and Alec Stewart to MK. He denied that he introduced Arvinda D' Silva and Ranatunga to MK. He stated that for these introductions, he had received money only once or twice. MK used to pay him only when his introduction to foreign players resulted in a profitable relationship. He stated that MK used to pay him money through one of his servants. Prabhakar confessed that in the Ranji Trophy Quarter Final match of 1991 between Delhi and Bombay, he had given information to MK that Delhi would lose this match since some of the Delhi players were scheduled to play league cricket in England which was clashing with further Ranji Trophy engagements. However, he had denied receiving money from MK for this information. He was very friendly with Tipu Kohli (a punter) and he used to call him up to get his opinion and information about cricket matches. Prabhakar also said that he knew one Mashaal, a bookie of Bombay. MOHD. AZHARUDDIN Joining the State Bank of India as a clerk in 1983, Mohd Azharuddin got quick promotions because of his cricket. He is at present a scale-IV officer, working as Chief Manager and PRO, State Bank of India, Hyderabad. Azharuddin admits his very close relationship with Ajay Sharma, and the intimacy developed since both of them used to be roommates whenever they played. On being confronted with telephone print-outs of Ajay Sharma which disclose contacts only just before or during cricket matches, he stated that Ajay Sharma had always been his well-wisher for may years and he also used to bring him bats during matches since it brought him good luck. Azharuddin admitted on further questioning that he was first introduced to M.K. Gupta @ MK by Ajay Sharma sometime in 1995, at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. Ajay Sharma and MK had been approaching him to under perform in some matches for a consideration. Mukesh Gupta had offered him a sum of Rs. 1.25 crore, but the deal did not materialise. He accepted that he had taken money on some occasions from MK but did not under perform in most of the matches in which he had taken money. He stated that the Titan Cup match between India and South Africa at Rajkot in 1996 was fixed through Mukesh Gupta, and revealed that Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were also involved along with him. A match in Pepsi Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in 1997 was also fixed through MK. He accepted that he had introduced Mukesh Kumar Gupta to Hansie Cronje at Kanpur in 1996. On being asked about Ajay Gupta and Ameesh Gupta whose cell phone numbers figured frequently in his telephone print-out, he stated that he had met Ajay Gupta and his associates sometime in 1998 through Ajay Sharma. He had a letter of intent for a petrol pump issued by the Ministry of Petroleum in 1996 which was under litigation and wanted to seek Ajay Gupta's help. On being asked whether Ameesh Guptas s/o Gyan Chand Gupta paid for his shopping at Harrods in London in 1999 during the World Cup, he stated that he had made some purchases and Ameesh Gupta had paid for the same. On further questioning, he accepted that Ajay Gupta and his associates had approached him sometime to fix matches. He does not remember how much money he had received from them. The Pepsi Cup match between India and Pakistan at Jaipur in 1999 was fixed through them and Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were also involved with him in the deal. He was paid around Rs.10 lacs after that match by some unknown person on behalf on Guptas. Azhar admitted that Ameesh Gupta had given him mobile phone -98-111- 50860-through which he used to contact him during matches. On being asked whether he had met Dawood Ibrahim, he stated that he had seen him a few times in Sharjah where Dawood Ibrahim used to be present during cricket matches. He denied having any telephonic conversation with him. On being asked whether he had spoken to Abu Salem, he stated that Abu Salem had rung him up on a couple of occasions and requested him to fix some matches but he had refused. On being asked about Hamid Banjo Cassim of South Africa, Azhar accepted that he had met him whenever he visited South Africa. On being asked about Pappu Bhutani, he stated that he knew him but he had not purchased any expensive watch from him. Azhar also stated that he presented a Rolex watch costing around Rs.75, 000/- to Ajit Wadekar as a token of appreciation since Ajit Wadekar always used to guide him when he was the Coach of Indian team. On being asked about the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabakar in Singer Cup, 1994, he stated that Manoj Prabhakar never informed him about this alleged offer and he came to know of this only through newspapers recently. About the India-West Indies one-day match at Kanpur in 1994 where Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia had batted slowly, he stated that there were no instructions from the dressing room that they should bat slowly and he could not comprehend the reasons behind such tactics DR ALI IRANI Dr Ali Irani, Physiotherapist of Indian Cricket team, stated that he had been with the Indian Cricket team from 1987 to 1997, expect for a gap of around 6 months in between. According to him. It was in 1994, in the India-West Indies one-day international at Kanpur, that everybody, for the first time, felt that something was wrong. In fact match, Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia did not chase the target and just played out the remaining balls. According to Dr. Irani, it looked as if they were batting to play out the balls rather than winning the mach and passing necessary instructions, was sitting in the dressing -room unmindful of what was happening on the ground. Dr. Irani further stated that people were so upset that one of the selectors, G. R. Vishwanath, even came to the dressing room and shouted at Wadekar asking him whether he knew what was going on and whether he had passed on any instructions. After the match was over, when Manoj Prabhakar came to the dressing room, he said that Nayan Mongia had asked him to play out the remaining balls, as that was the instruction from the dressing room. When Nayan Mongia was asked about it, he said that he had been told to say so but who had told him to say so, he could not explain. That evening when the team was returning after dinner in a bus, Manoj Prabhakar was abusing Wadekar and Azhar probably because he knew that a decision to drop him and Nayan Mongia for the next two matches had been taken. Dr. Irani also stated that certain undesirable characters were gaining entry into the dressing room. There was an instance of team members, specially from the South in a Test Match against Sri Lanka in 1996 strongly objecting to the presence of Ajay Sharma, a former Indian player, in the dressing room. Dr. Irani further stated that he also saw Ajay Sharma in Chandigarh when the Indian Team was playing there. Ajay Sharma had brought some bats for Azharuddin, but, during that match, Azhar was down with fever and he could not play, so he left the place with Ajay Sharma. It was well known that Ajay Sharma was very close to Azhar. Another instance where Dr. Irani suspected the match was deliberately lost was in the West Indies in 1997. The Indian team had to make only a few runs, but in spite of a number of wickets in hand, they could not make them and the manner in which the team played raised suspicion. After the match, some of the boys blamed the loss due to "a silly excuse" like "Voodoo" being practiced by some locals on the field. Dr. Irani categorically stated that he was not aware of the alleged offer of Rs.25 lakhs made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar to under perform in Sri Lanka till the controversy appeared in the media a couple of years back. He could not say whether the allegation was correct. Dr. Irani further stated that in the Indian Team, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar were good friends and so were Azhar and Ajay Jadeja and Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar. Initially, Ajay Jadeja was also very close to Manoj Prabhakar. Dr. Irani had often seen Azhar and Ajay Jadeja talking in hushed tones and very often he had doubted that their conversation related to some "hanky-panky" in the matches. Dr. Ali Irani denied knowing any person by the name M.K. Gupta. However, on being shown a photograph to him by Azhar as "John" and not "M.K. Gupta", in a test match in Ahmedabad in 1996. Later, when Azhar became closer to Dr. Irani, he opened up and asked him to collect money on his behalf. Dr. Irani told Azhar that he could not collect money on his behalf, but if someone gave money for Azhar through him in his room he would tell Azhar. Azhar then told him that "John" would give him money and then this person "John" and his representative (a guy from Bombay) gave him money for Azhar on a number of occasions. Azhar would ring him or tell him in advance that John would be sending money. Dr. Irani, however, stated that he could not say how much money had been transferred by John to Azhar, but each transaction was in lakhs and some transactions were as high as Rs.10 to 15 lakhs. For rendering this service Azhar used to pay Dr. Irani anywhere from Rs.25,000/- to Rs.50,000/- on each occasion. DR. Irani further stated that although he as a conduit for transfer of money from John to Azhar, he did on each occasion tell Azhar that what he was doing was not correct. However, his greed to be with the Indian Team as a physiotherapist got the better of him. On being asked as to which other players were involved with Azhar, Dr. Irani stated that he thought that Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar were also involved with Azhar in this matter. He further stated that he had absolutely no doubt about the involvement of Ajay Jadeja with Azhar as, in 1996, on day Ajay Jadeja told him not to talk about 'such things' as he was no longer into it. Dr. Irani suspected that he said this to him since Ajay knew by that time that Azhar had confided in him as to what was happening. Dr. Irani further stated that the bookies normally approached the players individually and that often two players would not even realise that they had been approached by the same bookie. Dr. Irani further stated that if one studied the body language of the players after a match, then at times, one could realise that a particular player was involved in match fixing. There have been occasions even when the Indian team had won, some players were not happy after the match. In fact, in a match against Pakistan during the 'Independence Cup' , the Indian team had won, but when the camera focussed on Azhar, he did not appear happy. Noticing this, the camera focussed on him for a considerable time. Dr. Irani further stated that during the later stages, his relationship with Azhar had come under strain because the latter objected to his association with Sangeeta Bijlani. Dr. Irani further stated that often one could tell from the reaction of the players in the team meeting, prior to the match, about their performance. He said this was especially true in the case of Manoj Prabhakar and N.S. Sidhu. Whenever they spoke a lot in the team meeting, he knew that they were not going to perform well in the next match. Dr. Irani stated that he had never heard anything adverse regarding Tendulkar. In fact, in most of matches where fixing was taking place, the clue was that the game would 'be on' only when Tendulkar got out because he was one player who could single-handedly win the match and upset any calculation. On being asked about the involvement of underworld in match fixing and betting specially with reference to the involvement of Sharad Shetty, Dr. Irani stated that although he did not have any knowledge, once Azhar had told him that as he was doing matches with Anees Ibrahim, he could not do with anyone else. AJAY JADEJA Ajay Jadeja stated that he knew Rajesh Kalra and Kishan Kumar since they regularly come to the gym at Hotel Park Royal which is also frequented by Jadeja. He denied any knowledge about their being punters. On being asked about Rattan Mehta was a very good friend and had known him for the past many years. He also stated that he had gone to his restaurant many times and maintained close contacts with Rattan Mehta. When asked whether he knew that Rattan Mehta was also involved in betting and match-fixing, he stated that he had no knowledge of such activities and also never bothered to find out. On being asked whether he knew that Rattan Mehta's sister Mona Mehta was arrested for betting on cricket matches during the World Cup, 1999 by Delhi police, he stated that he had not heard of such an incident. On being asked whether he knew Mukesh Kumar Gupta @ M K, he stated that he had never met him but all that he knew was that M K stayed next to Nikhil Chopra's house in Defence Colony. He also denied that he went to Mukesh Gupta's house at Defence Colony along with a girl and Ajay Sharma sometime in 1996. He, however, stated that since he met so many people he cannot remember all of them. He stated that he did not remember whether he received Rs 50, 000 from M K. On being asked whether he was involved in match-fixing with Mohd. Azharuddin, he denied the same. On being asked whether he knew Uttam Chand, a bookie/ punter of Chennai, he stated that he did not know him. On being confronted with Uttam Chand's cell phone printout, which disclosed very frequent telephonic contact between both of them just before or during cricket matches, he stated that he recognised Uttam Chand's cell phone number but knew him as 'Gupta'. He did not know how Uttam Chand got his telephone number. Jadeja stated that Uttam Chand used to ring him up often and tell him that if he did not talk to him, he would run into bad luck and because of superstition, he used to return his call. On being asked whether he knew that Uttam Chand was a bookie, he stated that he had an inkling to that effect due to the nature of conversation Uttam Chand used to have with him. On being asked why he did not discontinue his association with Uttam Chand after that, he said that he could not explain this. Ajay Jadeja also denied that he provided any information to Uttam Chand about cricket matches and denied receiving any money from Uttam Chand. Finally, on being asked about his association with persons like Rajesh Kalra, Kishan Kumar, Rattan Mehta and Uttam Chand who are all bookies/ punters, Jadeja stated that he did not want to discuss these things. He merely said that he had made certain mistakes in his career and was ready to pay the price for it. NIKHIL CHOPRA Nikhil Chopra, member of the Indian team, stated that he had absolutely no idea of match-fixing or related malpractices. He also did not have any idea of any Indian players being involved in such malpractices. On being asked about Rajesh Kalra's call in his cell phone printout, he stated that he knew Rajesh Kalra since both of them used the gym at Hotel Park Royal. On being asked about the details of his conversations over telephone with Rajesh Kalra, he stated that he did not recollect the same. On being asked about a call received on his cell phone from Sanjiv Chawla's mobile, he stated that he did not know Sanjiv Chawla and did not know how his number had figured in his telephone printout. On being asked about a call made to Rattan Mehta from his cell phone, he stated that he did not know Rattan Mehta and did not remember whether he made such a call. He stated that he had seen Rattan Mehta just once when he was sitting in a hotel with his brother and his brother had pointed out Rattan Mehta and told him that he was the owner of Hotel Mini Mahal in Vasant Vihar. NAYAN MONGIA About Kapil Dev's alleged offer to Manoj Prabhakar during the Singer Cup, 1994, Nayan Mongia stated that he was occupying the room adjoining Manoj Prabhakar's room during that tour. His roommate was Prashant Vaidya. He never heard any shouting or commotion as a sequel to this alleged offer. He does not recollect any journalist sitting in his room when the alleged offer was made. He heard about this alleged incident for the first time when Shri I S Bindra made those allegations on TV. His roommate Prashant Vaidya also never mentioned anything to him. Mongia stated that he had never been approached by any player, ex-player or bookie to underperform for a consideration. About his slow batting in Kanpur against West Indies in 1994, he stated that there was some discussion in the dressing room that no further wickets should be lost and he had passed on the same instructions to Manoj Prabhakar. On being asked as to who had given those instructions to him, he could not give a satisfactory answer and stated that there was some general talk in the dressing room. He denied having ever placed bets in England during a match not involving India. He also denied that he was involved with Mohd. Azharuddin in fixing matches. He stated that he had not received any money from Azharuddin or Ajay Sharma. He further stated that he had no knowledge of any match in the Titan Cup series, 1996 or the Pepsi Cup series in 1999 having been fixed by Azharuddin. He denied that he had ever been offered money by a bookie to underperform. NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU About the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar during the Singer Cup in 1994, Navjot Sidhu stated that he and Manoj Prabhakar were roommates during that tour. Sometime on that tour, Manoj Prabhakar, during a casual conversation, had told him that he had been offered money by a player without disclosing the name of the player. According to Sidhu, Manoj Prabhakar did not mention the time, place or the purpose of the above said offer. Sidhu does not remember whether Kapil Dev had come to their room just before Prabhakar had told him about this offer of money. When Manoj Prabhakar informed him about it, he was absolutely sure that nobody else was present in the room. According to him, neither Prashant Vaidya nor anybody else had come to their room when Manoj Prabhakar had told him about the alleged offer. During his further examination, N S Sidhu accepted that Manoj Prabhakar had told him in the first instance itself that the player who allegedly offered him money was Kapil Dev but categorically denied that the alleged offer was made in his presence. Sidhu also denied that he was into match-fixing along with Manoj Prabhakar and stated that he had never underperformed for a consideration at any time during his cricket career. AJIT WADEKAR Ajit Wadekar, former Indian captain and manager, stated that during his tenure as manager of Indian cricket team, he did not come across any instance or information, which hinted at match-fixing, betting or involvement of Indian players in it. He further stated that although there were some instances such as Kapil Dev not running out Peter Kirsten in the 1992 "Goodwill tour" of the Indian team to South Africa in spite of his repeatedly leaving the crease before the ball was delivered and in spite of him telling Kapil to run Kirsten out a number of times after warning, Kapil did not do so. This appeared odd now but he had thought that Kapil really wanted to have good relations with South Africa. Other such instances which he recalled were that of R Mohan, sports editor of "Hindu" who was in the dressing room with a cell phone and he had to ask him to leave the dressing room as he was causing disturbance, and Nayan Mongia playing extremely slowly in the one-day international match against West Indies in Kanpur. Ajit Wadekar further stated that three of them, i.e., himself, captain Azhar and chairman of the selection committee - Vishwanath, decided to penalize both Nayan and Manoj by dropping them for the next two matches on the ground that they appeared to have played slow to improve their average. He further stated that although all these instances did appear to be odd, he could not say that they were deliberate acts on the part of the players because of consideration of match-fixing and betting. He further stated that during his tenure as manager of the Indian cricket team, he did feel that the players were not focused on the game and he had, therefore, formulated a code of conduct for Indian players in the tests against England and Zimbabwe. About the allegation of Manoj Prabhakar that in the series against Sri Lanka some senior player of the team (Kapil Dev) had offered Manoj Prabhakar 25 lakh rupees to underperform and that he had informed him of the same, Ajit Wadekar stated that what Manoj Prabhakar had said were total lies. Had any such information been given to him at that time, it would certainly have been reflected in his tour report. He totally denied that Manoj Prabhakar had given him any information about the alleged offer of money to him by Kapil Dev to underperform. PRASHANT VAIDYA He played for India for the first time during the Singer Cup, 1994, in Sri Lanka. In that tour, Nayan Mongia was his roommate and the adjoining room was occupied by Manoj Prabhakar and N S Sidhu. About the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar during that tour, Prashant categorically stated that he did not have nay knowledge of any such incident taking place during that tour. He stated that he stated that he did not have nay knowledge of any such incident taking place during that tour. He stated that he had not gone to Manoj Prabhakar's room as a sequel to the commotion arising out of the alleged offer. He said that it may be possible that some journalist may have been sitting in his room during that tour since he was quite friendly with Mr. Sakya Sen Mitra, a journalist from Calcutta. He also stated that Kapil Dev and other players had been visiting each other's room quite often and there was a possibility of Kapil Dev having visited his room while Mr. Sakya Sen Mitra was also present. He came to know of Kapil Dev's name in this connection only when Mr. I S Bindra had given a statement to this effect in the media. RAVI SHASTRI Ravi Shastri, former Indian cricketer, stated that Manoj Prabhakar first told him about the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev sometime during the Singer Cup series in 1994. He was in Sri Lanka during that series as a commentator and Prabhakar had approached him about 4-5 days after the alleged offer was made and told him that Kapil Dev had offered him money to underperform in the India-Pakistan match. Ravi Shastri stated that he did not believe Manoj Prabhakar. However, he instructed him to tell the team management about this. On being asked for his opinion whether Kapil Dev could have made such an offer, Ravi Shastri stated that he had played with Kapil Dev for a number of years during his cricketing career and did not think that Kapil Dev could have made such an offer. On being asked as to what could have motivated Prabhakar to make such an allegation, he stated that it was a well-known fact in the Indian team that Manoj Prabhakar and Kapil Dev did not get along very well. KAPIL DEV Kapil Dev, former Indian captain and former coach, when asked about the land acquired by him for a society at village Roza Ka Gujjar, district Gurgaon, stated that this land was purchased through one Kewal Joshi since it was a very attractive proposition as the price was very low and that he had offered many cricketers/ex-cricketers/officials plots so that it could be built up as a sort of cricketers' colony. He had met the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon quite a few times to get the land demarcated properly, but till now it could not be managed. Kapil admitted having received a BMW car gifted to him during the South Africa tour of 1992 by one Ibrahim, owner of "Auto-city" auto garage in South Africa. This was gifted to him after he had taken 400 wickets in the previous series at Australia. Ibrahim had offered him the car in return for his agreeing to model for his garage. Like all cricketers, he also thought that it was quite a good bargain and accepted the car and agreed to model for Ibrahim's Company. The car was brought to India after completing all the necessary formalities with the Ministry of Finance. Kapil Dev also admitted that he knew Hamid Banjo Cassim of South Africa very well. He stated that Cassim was known as Hamid Mamu to Indian players and was very helpful to Indian players whenever India toured South Africa. About the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999 where India did not enforce the follow-on, he stated that this decision was taken in consultation with the Captain, Vice Captain and other senior players. One day prior to the decision, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the follow-on should be enforced. At the end of play on the third day, there was no team meeting on the strategy for the next day. Somewhere during lunchtime on the fourth day the bowlers, especially Srinath complained that they were very tired and India should bat again and score quick runs and make New Zealand bat thereafter. On being told that the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew about the decision not to enforce follow-on 31.10.99 night, Kapil stated that no decision to this effect was taken on the 31st and hence it was very surprising. On being asked whether somebody could have subconsciously this decision on the next day, he stated that it could not be ruled out. He could not remember as to who could have done it. Kapil admitted having received a BMW car gifted to him during the South Africa tour of 1992 by one Ibrahim, owner of "Auto-city" auto garage in South Africa. This was gifted to him after he had taken 400 wickets in the previous series at Australia. Ibrahim had offered him the car in return for his agreeing to model for his garage. Like all cricketers, he also thought that it was quite a good bargain and accepted the car and agreed to model for Ibrahim's Company. The car was brought to India after completing all the necessary formalities with the Ministry of Finance. Kapil Dev also admitted that he knew Hamid Banjo Cassim of South Africa very well. He stated that Cassim was known as Hamid Mamu to Indian players and was very helpful to Indian players whenever India toured South Africa. About the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999 where India did not enforce the follow-on, he stated that this decision was taken in consultation with the Captain, Vice Captain and other senior players. One day prior to the decision, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the follow-on should be enforced. At the end of play on the third day, there was no team meeting on the strategy for the next day. Somewhere during lunchtime on the fourth day the bowlers, especially Srinath complained that they were very tired and India should bat again and score quick runs and make New Zealand bat thereafter. On being told that the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew about the decision not to enforce follow-on 31.10.99 night, Kapil stated that no decision to this effect was taken on the 31st and hence it was very surprising. On being asked whether somebody could have subconsciously this decision on the next day, he stated that it could not be ruled out. He could not remember as to who could have done it. About Ajay Jadeja, Kapil stated that he was extremely close to him and was like a son to him. On being told that Ajay Jadeja was in touch with a number of bookies and how Kapil never realised this, he stated that he had known about Jadeja's friendship with certain dubious persons and felt that his choice of friends was not always as it should be. On being asked specifically whether he knew Uttam Chand, a bookie of Madras, he stated that he did not know any person by the name Uttam Chand, and upon being told he had once played cards with him at Hotel Adyar Park Sheraton, Madras, he stated that he used to have card sessions in the company of Bharat Reddy, the ex-Wicket Keeper and may have played cards when generally many other people were also present in those sessions. He accepted that he was very fond of playing cards. About his alleged offer to Manoj Prabhakar during the Singer Cup, 1994, Kapil stated that he did not make any such offer. All the while when Manoj Prabhakarmade those allegations, Kapil thought he was talking about Mohd. Azharuddin and only when I.S. Bindra mentioned his name in the media recently, to his utter shock he realised that Manoj Prabhakar was talking about him. He further stated that Prabhakar necer got along well with him. One of the reasons was that during the tour of England in 1987, when Chetan Sharma was injured, in spite of Manoj Prabhakar being in the 14, he had asked the then BCCI President Mr. Raj Singh Dungarpur to permit him to utilise the services of Madan Lal, who was playing league cricket in England and was not in the original Indian Team. On another occasion when he was in the board of Directors to Escorts Company, a proposal to nominate Manoj Prabhakar and Raman Lamba was received and he had shot down that proposal. Perhaps due to these reasons Manoj Prabhakar had a grudge against him. Kapil Dev also volunteered to undergo an unconditional Lie Detector Test. SACHIN TENDULKAR Sachin Tendulkar, former Indian Captain, when asked about the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999, sated that by the end of third day's play when New Zealand had lost around 6 wickets, he had thought to himself that he would enforce the follow-on the next day. However, the New Zealand innings dragged on till after lunch the next day and by then he himself, coach Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja decided that follow-on would not be enforced since the bowlers, especially Srinath had insisted that they were very tired. It was a collective decision not to enforce follow-on. On being asked whether anybody could have influenced this decision since the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew one day in advance that follow-on will not be enforced, he accepted that it was possible. About Shobhan Mehta, the Bombay bookie, he stated that he had never met this person nor did he invite him to his wedding. During his wedding there was tight security and only select persons were invited and nobody without a proper invitation could have gate crashed. All speculations about himself and Shobhan Mehta were absolutely rubbish and he had never met this person any time in his life. On being asked whether he suspected any Indian player of being involved in match-fixing, Sachin stated that during his tenure as Captain, he had felt that Mohd Azharuddin was not putting in 100 per cent effort and he suspected that he was involved with some bookies. On being asked about the India-West Indies match at Kanpur in 1994 when Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia batted slowly, he stated that he was the Vice-Captain during that match and he was absolutely sure that there were no instructions from the management for Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia to bat slowly and that he was so upset with their tactics that he did not talk to them after the match. MANINDER SINGH Maninder Singh, former Indian Cricket Team player was asked about the Ranji Trophy Quarter final match between Delhi and Bombay in 1991 at Feroze Shah Kotla. He stated that in that particular year, the Ranji Trophy schedule was disturbed because of some court order. Some of the Delhi players were committed to play league cricket in England. Had Delhi won that quarter final match, further Ranji Trophy matches would have clashed with league engagements in England. He stated that although there was no conscious decision to lose that match, the team was not serious about winning it either. KIRTI AZAD He stated that he was a member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. He confirmed that some of the Delhi players were committed to playing league cricket in England that season. He stated that he was not contacted to play league cricket in the year 1991. Kirti Azad denied that there was any conscious decision on the part of the Delhi team as a whole to lose the match against Bombay. However, he accepted that some members of the team may have taken such a decision. He denied that he was a party to any such decision to throw away the match. ATUL WASSAN He stated that he was member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. He also stated that he was contracted to play league cricket in England during that season. Atul Wassan further stated that the Ranji Trophy schedule in 1991 was delayed and would have clashed with league engagements of some of the players including himself in England. He stated that the players had asked DDCA to relieve them from Ranji Trophy engagements so that they could play league cricket in England but this plea was rejected. He further said that there was no conscious decision on the part of the Delhi players to lose the match, but they were not very serious about winning the match. I S BINDRA Shri I S Bindra, former president of BCCI, talked about a number of incidents which created suspicion that match-fixing and betting existed in cricket. He referred to an incident of 1979 in which G R Vishwanath, Captain of the Indian team, went out to toss with Asif Iqbal, Captain of Pakistan and Vishwanath lost the toss, but to his utter surprise found Asif Iqbal insisting that Vishwanath had won the toss. There was a possibility that there might have been bets placed on the toss in this match. He also stated another incident reported by Mr L P Sahi in the Telegraph newspaper, Calcutta, that Ajay Jadeja had brought a bookie to meet Azharuddin in the dressing room in 1994-95 at Sharjah and when reporters came to know of this, they tried to photograph the bookie with the players and their efforts were blocked by Jadeja and Azharuddin and the bookie was sent out in a hurry. He also alleged that Mr P M Rungta and Dr Ravinder Chaddha were the two persons whom he suspected of betting during cricket matches. As regards Manoj Prabhakar's allegations about Kapil Dev having offered him money during the Singer Cup 1994, Shri Bindra stated that Manoj Prabhakar met him for the first time on 22.4.2000 at Mohali, Chandigarh, in the presence of Mr Pandove, secretary, PCA, and told him about the incident. Manoj Prabhakar also allegedly told Mr Bindra that Navjot Singh Sidhu was also present when this offer was made and Shri Bindra allegedly later on confirmed the same from N S Sidhu. He also stated that on one occasion Dr Ali Irani had told him that Manoj Prabhakar, N S Sidhu and Nayan Mongia had placed bets on a cricket match not involving India at England. He further revealed that Azharuddin was presented a Mercedes car in Sharjah by a person claiming to be his admirer. He stated that Mr Jyoti Bajpai, the administrative manager of the Indian team at that time had informed that the person who presented the Mercedes was a Pakistani supporter and it was difficult to understand why a Pakistani supporter should present a car to Azharuddin. Shri I S Bindra also referred to the match in Sharjah which was played under failing light between India and Pakistan. He stated that there is a possibility that this match was continued because of some foul play, especially since matches in Sharjah were played for money and he referred to such matches as 'Masala and Thaila' matches. He also narrated an incident in which India-New Zealand played a match in Sharjah on 20.4.98. The secretary of Pakistan Cricket Board mentioned to him that he had overheard a conversation between Asif Iqbal and Marc Mascarenhas that the Indian team will be out for less than 185 runs and the top four Indian players will throw their wickets. This fact was also allegedly mentioned by the then president of Pakistan Cricket Board to Mr Salve separately. According to Bindra, the way Mr Ali Bacher conducts matches in South Africa creates a lot of suspicion. He has also talked about the World Cup 1999 match between India and Zimbabwe and said that Sunil Gavaskar, immediately after the match, had alleged on TV that someone from the Dressing Room had sent a message to the players to finish the match quickly even though many deliveries were left to get the required runs. Mr Bindra further stated that when Sunil Gavaskar was ridiculed by Raj Singh Dungarpur for making such irresponsible statements, Sunil Gavaskar came out in the press stating that it was Mr Brijesh Patel, who was part of the team management who had told him so. He also stated that the role of bookies after 1996 had decreased in match-fixing and now it is suspected that match-fixing is done by 'event managers' who were signing up various players. The event managers are signing players for huge amounts and if for any reason, they are not able to recover their investment, they fix matches and performance to recover their money. SUNIL DEV Sunil Dev, former vice-president, BCCI and manager of the Indian team, stated that he suspected Ajay Sharma due to his proximity with Azharuddin. Ajay Sharma was seen at many places with Azharuddin during matches and was also available to Azharuddin on telephone. He revealed that some bookies had reportedly snatched Ajay Sharma's Opel Astra Car and his cell phone, sometime after the India-South Africa series. Similarly, he also suspected one Karun Dubey, a former Ranji Trophy player, due to his proximity with Kapil Dev. He further stated that Karun Dubey visited Australia and was with Kapil Dev during the last series in Australia. He also stated that Kapil Dev owned a lot of property, including a flat in London, a house in Sunder Nagar, some residential property in Maharani Bagh, Safdarjung Enclave and some property in Chandigarh. It was difficult to believe that all this property can be owned purely through income as a cricketer. He also stated that Ajay Jadeja also had a lot of property in Delhi and Bombay which needed to be probed. Sunil Dev also stated that when India plays in some non-regular venues like Singapore, Nairobi, Toronto and Dubai, there are some middlemen who take some money to arrange these matches in connivance with the BCCI office-bearers. MADHAV RAO SCINDIA Shri Madhav Rao Scindia, former president, BCCI, stated that he was present at Sharjah during the India-Pakistan match which was played in failing light. Ashok Mankad was the manger of the team at that time and Mohd Azharuddin was Captain. He was present there in his capacity as president of BCCI. On being asked why the match was allowed to continue in darkness, he stated that, as a matter of principle, office-bearers of BCCI do not interfere with decision-making on the field. Such decisions are taken by the Coach, Captain and Team Management. On being asked about DRI tapes allegedly sent to him by Mr Sivaraman, the then revenue secretary, sometime in 1995, he stated that Mr Sivaraman had not handed over any tapes to him nor was any transcript or gist of information purportedly contained in those tapes given to him. He stated that he was not the BCCI president during that period and there is no reason why Mr Sivaraman should have provided him the alleged tapes.	Related Stories... 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