Indian news round-up

South Zone retained the Chandra Tripathi Trophy junior inter-zonal women's cricket championship when they defeated North Zone by nine wickets in the last match of the four team league at the KD Singh Baba stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.

Karnataka off spinner Deepika Babu (4 for 21) did the most to restrict North Zone to 93 for nine in 35 overs. South Zone for whom Mithali Raj (39) and Savita Nirale (33) put on 83 runs in 16 overs for the unbroken second wicket, cantered home for the loss of only one wicket in 19.3 overs.

In another match at the Chowk stadium, Central Zone beat East Zone by 13 runs to take second spot. Central Zone scored 147 for eight in 35 overs with Rajeshwari top scoring with 44 including four boundaries. Then off spinner Tanuja Chopra got among the wickets as East Zone were bowled out for 134 in 30.3 overs. Tanuja finished with four for 35.

Manoj Prabhakar, the Indian former Test player who was banned following his country's investigation into match-fixing, is now wanted by police for alleged fraud in relation to a finance company.

Police from the town of Naini Tal have been in Delhi attempting to arrest him, but he is said to have gone 'underground'. He cannot be found at his Delhi home. If the police fail to find him, their next move would be to seize his property. A warrant has been issued on a charge relating to a company called Apace, one of many finance companies in India who take monthly deposits from people.

Prabhakar's problems have arisen because Apace has collapsed and the directors appear to have gone missing. He has denied that he is a director of the company or in any way connected with it. But the Indian magazine `Outlook', which led the press investigation into match-fixing, has produced documents which show that Prabhakar is listed as a company director in Apace's annual report.