Indian news round-up

A senior advocate attached to the Hyderabad High Court HR Bharadwaj said on Thursday that the former Indian captain Mohd Azharuddin will soon challenge in the Andhra Pradesh High Court the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI for his alleged involvement in the match fixing scandal.

Speaking to Press trust of India (PTI), Bharadwaj said "The writ petition in this regard seeking quashing of the life ban imposed on Azharuddin has been finalised and would soon be filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court." He added that the main ground to be taken before the High Court in the petition would be questioning the legal value of the CBI report.

Elaborating on the issue, Bharadwaj said "The CBI followed no established procedure while conducting the probe. The CBI report on betting and match-fixing was neither an investigation nor a proper inquiry." On the Madhavan report, Bharadwaj said "Madhavan was nobody to conduct the inquiry. He had no jurisdiction to take up such a probe." and plainly added "the punishment given to Azharuddin is illegal."

Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Thursday that the Income Tax Department have unearthed huge am mounts of undisclosed assets and investments by the cricketers whose names cropped up during the match fixing scandal. The report also added that the department has sent out notices to them to file their declarations for a block ten year period.

Quoting department sources, PTI said "If they do not cover up the tax department's estimates, the players will run the risk of heavy penalty." and added that "their undeclared income has been quantified on the basis of seized materials during the searches."

The source said that while Kapil Dev was issued a notice early this week, all the other players had been served notices ten days back giving them a month's time to declare their earnings. The source also said that the department's appraisal report on the players whose premises were searched as part of 'Operation Gentleman' in July last, would be finalised by the end of the month.

The president of the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) Tunku Imran said in Kuala Lumpur on Friday that he would urge India to change their minds and join a tri-nation cricket tournament which also features Pakistan.

Speaking to Agence France Presse (AFP), Tunku Imran said "Since I personally invited them during my visit to India last month, I shall try to get them to reverse their decision. It will be a major boost for Malaysian cricket if we can get both India and Pakistan to play here."

India had earlier declined to participate in the tourney citing time constraints but Tunku Imran sounded confident and said "We have good relations with our Indian counterparts and I am confident they will compete."