Findings of raids to be announced in Parliament

From New Delhi to Mumbai, from Bangalore to Hyderabad, from Calcutta to Patiala, `Operation Gentleman' is making its omnipresent and omnipotent presence felt. And Thursday was another day of income tax raids and other bad news for the beleaguered cricketers and officials. Their cup of misery was complete with a series of events but none could have been more discouraging than the news that the results of the nationwide raids against cricketers, bookies and officials of the game would soon be unveiled in Parliament.

Director General of Income Tax SC Parija confirmed details of the raids, the largest such exercise conducted to stamp out match-fixing and corruption from the game, would be first presented to Parliament. ``Whatever seizure is made, it would be revealed in Parliament by the Finance Minister himself,'' Parija told reporters in New Delhi.

Nearly 60 bank lockers, including 17 in New Delhi, 10 in Bombay and three in Calcutta were seized during the raids last week. IT sources said the remaining deposit boxes would be opened within seven days and added that evidence of untaxed wealth accumulated by players and bookies found in the six lockers opened so far were a ``treasure trove.''

To cite a few examples of the treasure. On Tuesday, jewellery worth half a million rupees (11,150 dollars) was confiscated from the bank safe of one unnamed national player, while on Wednesday a huge amount of ornaments was found inside the deposit box of an alleged bookmaker.

In Patiala, IT officials opened two lockers belonging to former Test cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu at the State Bank of Patiala, official sources said.

The officials of the investigation wing of the IT department were stated to have made an inventory of items recovered yesterday from the two lockers. Sidhu works in the bank's public relations department at its headquarters in Patiala.

The lockers were sealed during a raid at Sidhu's two residences and some commercial establishments here recently.

In Bangalore, a team of 75 income-tax officials from Delhi raided two apartments in the city allegedly owned by Sangeeta Bijlani, former actress and cricketer Azharuddin's second wife, on Thursday. The house and offices of Dominion Club owner Suresh Jain, a suspected bookie, were also raided.

The team, accompanied by armed policemen, simultaneously raided places in the Mahatma Gandhi Road area. The two flats of Bijlani were in Museum Terraces Apts, Museum Road, and Great Park Road, off M.G. Road. The sprawling Dominion Club in Allasandra owned by Jain, his MG Road house and corporate office on Rest House Road were also raided.

Cartons of documents were seized. The I-T officials, according to sources, had traced a connection between Jain and Bijlani during last week's raids on cricketers and bookies.

``This raid is a fallout of the raids on Azharuddin's houses in Mumbai and Hyderabad. We believe bookies used to meet regularly in the Bijlani apartment in Bangalore and are examining this angle,'' sources said.

Addressing a press conference later, Director-General (Income-Tax) K K Sharma said raids were conducted at 10 places, eight of them in the city and two in Chennai, on Thursday. ``The raids will continue,'' he added.

According to Sharma, the raids revealed that Bijlani had sold the flats. He was, however, hesitant to name those on whom the raids were conducted. ``Last time we announced the names of the people who were raided by the department and somebody issued a defamation notice.'' he said.

Prosecution on various tax evasion charges could lead to jail terms ranging from three to seven years, as well as huge fines. And this can't exactly be music to the ears of those allegedly involved.

There was also discouraging news for the players on the CBI front. The agency has questioned cricketers and officials but on Thursday it was learnt that the CBI is likely to question them again. Cricketers like Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja, against whom the Income Tax officials carried out countrywide raids recently are likely to be examined after the completion of the scrutiny of the seized documents by senior Income Tax officials. The scrutiny is going on in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Patiala and Hyderabad.

CBI sources said following the IT raids, the questioning of these people is possible if some incriminating documents were found pointing towards their complicity. ``We can call them if we find something in the materials seized by the officials and seek their explanation. Whether they have already been questioned or not, they will have to make themselves available if required,'' the sources said.

The IT officials are likely to hand over all seized documents concerning the match-fixing scandal to the CBI to facilitate a better investigation by the Bureau. The seizure, probably, provides a last opportunity to the CBI to substantiate its case on match-fixing.

As if the country-wide raids are not enough, the CBI has now dispatched a two-member team to London to question two alleged key figures of the scam, cricketer Ajay Sharma and book-maker Sanjeev Chawla.

The team comprising Joint Director RN Sawani and Deputy Inspector General YK Singh left late Thursday night for London where they would seek co-operation from their counterparts Scotland Yard Police, highly-placed agency sources said.

A two-member team from Scotland Yard had visited India on May 4 and met the CBI officials and provided telephone numbers of Indian bookies whose names surfaced during their investigations. The CBI team was likely to record statement of Ajay Sharma, who is alleged to have had links with the bookies. Sharma has denied the charge.

In Calcutta, IT authorities are yet to make a final estimation of the valuables and documents seized from bank lockers as well as office and residential premises of former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya during their survey and search operation in the city last week.

``We are yet to work out the final calculations and scrutinise documents obtained from the various premises but the seizures will be made public very soon,'' a senior it official said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad disapproved the manner in which Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley defended Ajay Jadeja after IT officials raided the residences of the cricketer in the wake of the match-fixing scandal.

Azad, a BJP Member of Parliament, told reporters such actions may hamper the course of the investigation. "If it was an emotional outburst one can understand, but being a public figure and using the official residence of a minister to air her views is unacceptable," Azad said. "It is sad what Jaya did. She shouldn't have done that. It could hamper the investigations. That's not done," he said.

Azad said it was a black day in the history of Indian cricket when IT people conducted massive nation-wide raids on residences of cricketers and officials.

Asked whether he was happy with the way CBI was conducting investigations into the match-fixing scandal, Azad said: "it would have been better if we had something like South Africa's Edwin King Commission inquiry."