Armed with video tapes, Prabhakar turns super sleuth

If the match-fixing drama is turned into a suspense movie, it will become a runaway hit. Manoj Prabhakar is almost trying to turn a `hero' after being cast as a `villain' if one goes by the transcript telecast yesterday in the news programme 'Aaj Tak'. The match-fixing scandal could even give Sherlock Holmes sleepless nights. But Prabhakar seems to have taken up the job of a super sleuth himself.

This evening Prabhakar played a 45-minute video documentary of his interviews apparently with a hidden camera. These are private interviews and conversations with various Indian players like former Indian captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, former Indian manager Amit Mathur, BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele, apart from other officials.

The video played by Prabhakar has Gavaskar telling Prabhakar about how match-fixing is rampant in Indian cricket. He also opines that the BCCI authorities have been turning a blind eye to the issue, for their own reasons. Gavaskar, however, adds on tape that he does not remember Prabhakar mentioning any name to him vis a vis the Kapil Dev episode.

Amrit Mathur speaks of the circumstances in which Kapil Dev was once gifted an expensive car. Mathur says that he too remembers Prabhakar telling him of the Kapil Dev offer. Former Indian physio Ali Irani is shown saying that he had learnt of the Kapil incident from Mohammad Azharuddin which, as was pointed out during the press conference, backs up Prabhakar's earlier statement in the week.

At a press conference in New Delhi at the end of the show, Prabhakar said "After today, I may be left friendless in the cricket circles but I have been desperate to clear my name. Nobody believed me. I trust that you will all believe me now." He added "There have been accusations against me that I have tried to tarnish the image of the game. I have only wanted to clean it."

Earlier, the 'Aaj Tak' report, based on the transcripts in the latest issue of 'India Today' magazine, says that Prabhakar has taped the conversations he had with former Indian captain Ravi Shastri, former Indian manager Ajit Wadekar, former India physio Ali Irani, BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele and former Indian opener Navjot Sidhu. The transcript seeks to implicate former Indian captain Mohd. Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja in the scandal.

In the conversation taped by Prabhakar, Lele has said besides Kapil, he (Lele) has said Azharuddin and Jadeja were into match fixing. In the interview, Lele is supposed to have said "It is not just Kapil but also Azhar and Jadeja. Jadeja is the front man for Kapil." When Prabhakar questions Lele on why Kapil was named the Indian coach, Lele, according to the tape, says "That was a mistake. I swear on my wife that I told Dalmiya that this was the third time he was making a mistake. I told him that he would realise it only later."

Rejecting the tapes as doctored, Lele however said in an interview to a newspaper that "I don't want to hear the tape. Obviously, Prabhakar doctored it. I have two witnesses when I talked to him, Nayan Mongia and a local senior sports editor were there and they will vouch for what I had told Prabhakar."

Lele added "My hunch is Prabhakar came to me with the tape-recorder in a bag. Now I know why he kept pestering me to talk on the subject even when I was telling I was not interested in discussing it with him."

The tape has a conversation between Wadekar and Prabhakar where the former Indian captain has said that he reported the Singer Cup incident involving Kapil and Prabhakar to the then BCCI president IS Bindra and then secretary Jagmohan Dalmiya.

In the tape, Shastri recalls ``Pappu Bhutani offered to sell his wrist watch for Rs. six lakhs to Azharuddin. Azhar immediately got the money and paid it to Bhutani.'' While Irani in the course of another conversation, tells how Ajay Jadeja used to squeal on Azharuddin by selling out elsewhere.

Sidhu, who was the roommate of Prabhakar during the series in Colombo says in the tape "Don't tell my name anywhere. If you go to Ajit Wadekar, he won't listen to you. And Kapil Dev's is not a small name. Besides, I owe him a lot because I started playing under his captaincy."

Meanwhile, a news agency report quoted a CBI source as saying that both Sidhu and Wadekar have denied the allegations made by Prabhakar against Kapil to the agency. During his 30-minute deposition, Sidhu conveyed to the agency officials that there was no truth behind the allegations while Wadekar, during his meeting with the agency in Mumbai last week has also denied that Kapil Dev was involved in any match-fixing, the sources said.

Away from all this, the Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly put up a brave front. Speaking to a news agency in Calcutta, he said the side's performance in the coming Dhaka Asia Cup would not be affected by allegations made against its coach Kapil Dev.

Meanwhile, the CBI which is probing the match-fixing case has said it will question Kapil Dev, and former Indian captains Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar at an appropriate time after the Asia Cup. The agency has said that a regular case will be filed only after examining Kapil Dev.

On a separate front, former CBI chief Joginder Singh in the course of an interview to a TV news channel on Friday said "It is not a fit case to be handed over to the CBI. It is not the job of the CBI. It should have been probed by the BCCI or a judicial commission... It will not even go to the court."

On the bribe charges against Kapil, Joginder said the case against the cricketing icon would not stand as the match for which the offer was made was washed out. On Shastri's corraboration, Joginder added "it does not prove that the Indian coach approached Prabhakar. Other than Prabhakar's allegation, there was no evidence available to point a finger at Kapil.''

One wonders whether Prabhakar has fired all his ammunition or has he some more up his sleeve to be `exploded' in the coming days? In any case, the fireworks have started and when they will end is anyone's guess.