CBI denies groundsman's charge

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which submitted its sensational interim report to the Union Sports Minister SS Dhindsa last week will follow-up on the match-fixing case if there are new leads. This was disclosed by the premier investigating agency's Joint Director RN Sawani in New Delhi on Monday.

Talking to PTI, Sawani said "We will not allow this matter to rest and whenever the agency would get fresh leads, it will probe it." He added that some cases have been referred to the Income Tax department for it to furnish details of the assets possessed by cricket players.

Meanwhile, a CBI spokesman categorically denied that the agency had beaten up groundsman Ram Adhar alias 'Chowdury' to force a confession that he took Rs.50,000 as bribe to prepare a 'tailormade' pitch for a Test match between India and Australia in 1996. The 162-page CBI report says that at Rajghat, Ajay Sharma contacted the groundsman 3-4 days prior to the match and offered him the bribe to prepare a 'tailormade' pitch on the instruction of a bookie.

The spokesman said "at no point of time did the sleuths of the special crime branch adopt any third degree method or even beat the groundsman for a confession." The spokesman also said that Ajay Sharma and bookie Mukesh Gupta had named him as the person who was paid Rs 50,000 for the 'tailormade' pitch.

In a related development, the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) chief Ali Bacher has commended the CBI on their thorough job in the probe. Speaking to the Afrikaans language weekly Rapport in Johannesburg, Bacher said he hoped that the "pains of cricket are now over" after the release of the CBI's report, reports IANS.

However, Bacher added that he did not share the views of International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Malcolm Gray who earlier said that this is just the tip of the iceberg and more irregularities would be unearthed.

Reacting to the ban on players by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said he did not favour the BCCI's decision. Talking to reporters in Jammu on Monday, Abdullah said "unless a cricketer is proved guilty it is wrong to impose a ban on playing cricket." Asked whether the ban on Jadeja has affected the state side, Abdullah said "we should not have obstructed our players without proving charges conclusively."

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has appointed a one-man commission of inquiry to probe the charges of match-fixing against Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva. BCCSL President Thilanga Sumathipala asked Desmond Fernando, a member of the ICC's Code of Conduct Committee, to probe the charges and report back within 30 days. He is also a wellknown lawyer and human rights activist.

Sumathipala also said that he has been asked to investigate whether any prima facie evidence existed for irregularities committed by the two during the last ten years. The two players have figured in the interim report of the CBI.

Meanwhile, a news agency quoting Income Tax department sources said the appraisal reports of individual cricketers are expected to be ready by the end of this month but will not be made public. They will be sent for assessment in phases as soon as they are ready.

Sources denied that the CBI has sought the department's comments regarding Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma. In a guarded statement, the sources said "The CBI will have to wait for the appraisal reports on them. In any case the reports may not be taken as a ground for prosecution as these could not be treated as hard evidence beyond reasonable doubt."