How the match-fixing drama unfolded - Part 11

BCCI president AC Muthiah says off spinner Nikhil Chopra, chosen in the 14-member Indian team for the one day series against Zimbabwe, will not be allowed to play any match until the board finalises the punishments to those found guilty by its anti corruption commissioner K Madhavan. Muthiah tells a news agency in Chennai that it is an error on the part of the national selectors to have picked Chopra for the matches against Zimbabwe. Chopra was questioned by the CBI in connection with the match fixing case and his house was also raided by the income tax department in the wake of the allegations but his name does not figure in the CBI report. "I came to know of Chopra's inclusion through newspapers while on the flight from Chennai to New Delhi. As BCCI president, I have to safeguard the interests of the board. Therefore his omission is necessary," says Muthiah.

BCCI president AC Muthiah says in Chennai that the degree of punishment to be awarded to the tainted cricketers by the board would be "fair, but strict." Speaking to a news agency, he says "I will be fair, but strict in deciding on the punishments to the five cricketers." He adds the judgement will be based according to the findings of BCCI's anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan. "I have the authority to decide and I will not be cowed down. The Board's decision will be announced in a couple of days," he says. Explaining the delay in deciding on the quantum of punishment to the tainted players, Muthiah says, "I had to safeguard the board's interests. I had to seek legal opinion before deciding on taking any action on the indicted players." He says the special general body meeting in Calcutta on November 29 has given him the authority to decide on these matters.

Sri Lankan investigator into the match-fixing scandal Desmond Fernando seeks help from the Indian High Commission in Colombo to have a meeting with bookmaker MK Gupta to probe the charges that former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva were bribed to throw matches. Fernando, appointed by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to inquire into the allegations of match-fixing against Ranatunga and de Silva, says he is keen to interview Gupta, as his evidence would be crucial to the case. Fernando says he has written to the Indian authorities in Sri Lanka to permit him to meet Gupta at the earliest to cross examine him on his allegations against Ranatunga and De Silva. Fernando says he has studied the CBI report into match-fixing, but he has not yet questioned both the cricketers as he preferred to meet them after questioning Gupta. The investigator, who visited India and met BCCI's anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan, seeks more time from the Lankan Board to submit his report in view of procedural delays in meeting the bookmaker. He says he hopes to meet Gupta in the second week of December, during which time the bookmaker is also scheduled to meet the ICC representatives.

Members of Parliament in India seek immediate action against tainted cricketers named in the CBI report. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, BJP member and former Test cricketer Kirti Azad says he does not understand why the BCCI is unable to decide on their prosecution even after five sittings following submission of the CBI report. He says he has requested Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to direct the Enforcement Directorate to probe the assets of the involved cricketers. If they are found to be having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income, the income tax department could institute cases against them, he says. Supporting Azad, Shiv Sena member Mohan Rawale says immediate action must be taken against the guilty cricketers. Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushama Swaraj says in the Lok Sabha that advertisers have themselves stopped the advertisements of cricketers on Doordarshan.

Ninety five percent of Indian respondents in a BBC world survey hold that Indian cricket is bedevilled with corruption with 66 percent of them demanding a lifetime ban for those who have disgraced the game. A further 26 percent of the respondents advocate public humiliation for the culrpits for sullying the game.