WHEN ICONS WEEP BOOKIES LAUGH
Godse
Indian cricketers are cowards and they don't have to be bribed to
loose a match. Even Tendulkar seem to have lost his magic touch.
Except for Sachin and to an extent Saurav, the rest are timid and
useless players. They seem get shivers whenever they play against
Pakistan. Our team in the 80's was far better than the current one.
Atleast those days we used to loose in style and fight till the last
ball. Robin Singh, Agarkar, Azhar and the other bunch of jokers can
never find a place in the team had they played for Pakistan.
On Wed, 07 Jun 2000 01:04:59 GMT, address....@web.site
www.mantra.com/jyotish (Dr. Jai Maharaj) wrote:
>When icons weep bookies laugh
>
>By Deepak Sharma
>The Pioneer
>
>No matter how much Kapil Dev weeps in front of the camera
>and Azharuddin pleads innocence or Jadeja threatens to
>sue newspapers, there are mounds of evidence dotting
>their bookie trail. Except Saurav Ganguly, no Indian star
>has come out clean.
>
>Even batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has friends in the
>infamous world of fixers and match-makers.
>
>Within a month, India's premier investigative agency has
>laid its hand on sufficient proof to establish that the
>country's cricketing icons had links with the betting
>racket. This is what we are going to prove. It's the
>first step in building a case against them. Once the
>nexus between the players and bookies is established we
>will look into the betting charges, said a senior
>official of the Special Crime Branch of the CBI handling
>the enquiry.
>
>Let it be known that the CBI is not investigating any
>match-fixing case involving Indian players.The agency is
>collecting intelligence on the overall betting scenario
>while tracking down the entire chain of bookies operating
>in the country and abroad. As an integral part of the
>inquiry, the agency is also probing into the nexus
>between the players and bookie syndicates to substantiate
>the charges something which Justice YV Chandrachud failed
>to do.
>
>During the preliminary investigation, the CBI examined
>over 50 bookies, most of them based in Mumbai and Delhi.
>A few of them turned out to be family friends of current
>Indian players including Azhar, Jadeja, Mongia and even
>batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. The printouts of their
>cellular phones corroborated that a few were even
>speaking to Azhar and Jadeja during foreign tours and
>important series. Family photo albums revealed that
>players frequented parties thrown by bookies.
>
>Though Sachin is not a suspect, Mumbai's top bookie
>Shobhan Mehta attended his wedding. Mehta, who once had
>been close to the D company, later invited the wrath of
>Dawood's younger brother Anees on a dispute relating to
>betting money.
>
>We are hunting for Mehta, who has reportedly fled to
>Singapore to seek protection from Chhota Rajan. It is now
>to be probed as to what sort of relations existed between
>Mehta and Tendulkar. After all Mehta now appears to be a
>crucial link in corroborating evidence, disclosed an
>official.
>
>In building up its case, the CBI is not only relying on
>printout of cellphones and statements of bookies. As a
>linking evidence, the agency has sought help from the
>Income Tax authorities to probe into the assets of
>cricketers who have amassed wealth disproportionate to
>their known sources of income. The Finance Ministry has
>given the nod to the concerned IT commissioners to
>furnish details sought by the agency.
>
>The earnings of suspected players and the bookies will be
>scrutinised for the past 10 years. The process has
>already begun with scattered reports of discoveries, like
>cash tumbling out of Gavaskar's Gymkhana Club locker, all
>over the media. A thorough probe into the bank accounts,
>investments, properties and business deals of cricketers
>and their wives and family members will be done.
>Expensive gifts like a Mercedes Benz gifted to Azhar by a
>Pakistani jewellery company will also come under the
>scrutiny. The IT sleuths will not spare Prabhakar either
>who spilled the beans and later raked up the controversy
>by charging Kapil Dev publicly. His chit fund operations
>have already hit the headlines.
>
>The line of investigation drawn by the CBI is to procure
>more and more relevant documents to link cricketers with
>the bookies. We are not concerned with what Prabhakar is
>telling about Kapil or why Prashant Vaidya is
>contradicting newspaper reports. We are not going by
>hearsay or rumours that Azhar attended a dinner party
>thrown by Anees Ibrahim at a Dubai hotel. We need
>evidence which is legally admissible in a court of law.
>The CBI is not banking upon newspaper and magazine
>clippings, quipped a member of the investigative team.
>
>Obviously the 90-minute video-tape recorded by Manoj
>Prabhakar to prove that Kapil Dev tried to fix a match in
>Colombo figures nowhere. Allegations and oral charges do
>not serve the purpose, if an enquiry has to be brought to
>a logical end. Only legal experts can realise that even
>if Sidhu and Nayan Mongia confirm Prabhakar's
>allegations, a case can still not be registered against
>Kapil Dev. Because preparations for fixing a match cannot
>be penalised under any given law. Besides, there were no
>prior money transactions and even the match was washed
>away. The video-tape, now in the possession of the CBI,
>has served only one purpose. It has given fresh leads to
>the agency to question the who's who of cricket on
>betting. On the basis of the tape, the CBI will re-
>examine former Indian coach Ajit Wadekar and opening
>batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu, who have tentatively answered
>certain queries relating to Kapil's involvement with
>bookies and his differences with Prabhakar.
>
>The strategist or the senior CBI officials who give shape
>to the structure of the case are of the view that even
>the audio tapes of the Directorate of Revenue
>Intelligence have no legal value. A leading English
>weekly newsmagazine had claimed that the DRI in 1993 had
>a chance to record the telephonic conversation between
>bookies who discussed Azhar and Jadeja. Later the then
>revenue secretary HR Sivaraman confided in Madhavrao
>Scindia, former BCCI chief. However, Scindia who denied
>such a meeting, reportedly hushed up the matter to
>salvage the reputation of the board and team members.
>
>Later, the agency discovered that the audio tapes existed
>with the DRI. But from the investigation point of view,
>it served no cause. For DRI officials had not sought the
>permission of the home department while deciding to tap
>the telephone calls. The conversation could be used for
>in-house inputs but had no legal sanctity, once they
>tried to confront the players on the basis of the tapes.
>It only hints about the involvement of the cricket duo.
>But, already so many needles of suspicion are pointing
>towards these players. Where is the evidence? questions
>an official.
>
>The fate of the Mumbai police tapes was similar. High-
>profile IPS official Rakesh Maria disclosed that during
>the 1996 Titan Cup final against South Africa, a bookies
>syndicate approached four Indian players and tried to
>strike a lucrative deal. Names of Azhar, Mongia and
>Jadeja were again floated in this connection. But when
>the CBI approached Mumbai police for relevant tapes, the
>latter denied having such an evidence against Indian
>cricketers. Investigators feel that if any law enforcing
>agency has the hard evidence against bookies, it is only
>the Delhi Police, which registered a criminal case
>against South African skipper Hansie Cronje, his four
>teammates and three bookies including flop Bollywood
>actor Kishan Kumar. The cops had sought the permission of
>the authorities before tapping the phone and were
>fortunate even to record Cronje who miserably pleaded
>with Sanjay Chawla on phone to deposit the rest of the
>amount promised for match-fixing. The tapes are legal and
>offers clinching evidence to the prosecutors against the
>accused.
>
>This is the kind of stuff the CBI is desperate to lay its
>hand on. Though Cronje's involvement or his links with
>the London-based NRI Sanjay Chawla is helping the CBI
>reach conclusions, the agency is eyeing one of the 14
>tapes in which Chawla mentions two current Indian batsmen
>while speaking to the South African captain.We are
>curious to know that in what context Chawla mentioned
>these names. It proves our point while establishing links
>of the Indian players with infamous bookies, said an
>official.
>
>The agency also contemplates to examine Rajesh Kalra, an
>accused in the Cronje case, currently lodged in Tihar
>jail.The Sunday Times, London, carried a full page story
>on betting focussing on former Indian captain Azharuddin
>named by Kalra. During a week-long interrogation, Kalra
>had disclosed the names of two Indian batsmen linked to
>Chawla. We hope in the subsequent close interaction with
>Joint Commissioner (crime) of the Delhi police, Dr KK
>Paul, the man who dropped the net on Cronje, something
>concrete will emerge," informed an official. Sleuths are
>now awaiting the closing ceremony of the ongoing Asia Cup
>at Dhaka. The erstwhile national icons who recently
>brought disgrace to the game, the flight back to Delhi
>will be a test of nerves. Yes, we will question Azhar,
>Mongia, Jadeja, Kapil Dev et al. Let them return, asserts
>a top CBI official.
>
>Tuesday, June 6, 2000
>Click on The Pioneer link at News Plus
>http://www.mantra.com/newsplus
>Om Shanti
>
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