Indian news round-up

Govt seeks MEA advice over indictment of foreign cricketers: The Indian Government has sought advice from the Ministry of External Affairs regarding foreign cricketers indicted in the CBI report on betting and match-fixing, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply to former Minister Ram Jethmalani and Raj Mohinder Singh, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pon Radhakrishnan said the future course of action regarding these players will be decided after getting advice from all concerned including the Cricket Board and External Affairs Ministry.

The CBI had listed England's Alec Stewart, star West Indian batsman Brian Lara, leading Australian batsman Mark Waugh and his former team mate Dean Jones, two Sri Lankans Arvinda D'Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga, former South African skipper Hansie Cronje, former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and former Pakistan skipper Salim Malik as the foreign players who were either offered or paid money by bookies.

Members of various parties in the Orissa Assembly on Thursday demanded an inquiry into the large scale irregularities in the sale of tickets for the first ODI between India and Zimbabwe in Cuttack on December 2. Angry members alleged that thousands of tickets which were to be sold through a Nationalised bank were sold out within an hour even as long queues waited for their turn.

"These tickets had gone to the black marketers and the matter should be probed," the government's chief whip Pradip Maharathy and opposition Congress member Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mahapatra said while demanding a ruling from the Speaker, Sarat Kumar Kar. The Speaker expressed surprise over no meeting taking place between the Orissa Cricket Association, the police and the district administration to chalk out methods for sale of tickets.

Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain responded by saying that he had also come across allegations about tickets getting sold out minutes after the counters started selling them. Swain said that he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, and decide on the course of action to be followed. "We will inquire into it if the need arises," he said.

Hitting out at the CBI, the BCCI has alleged that there was a huge discrepancy between the actual figures and those quoted by the CBI regarding the tour guarantees received by the BCCI from three overseas tournaments during the last two years. The BCCI has also taken exception at the CBI's conclusion that "India has undersold itself" in the three tournaments - World Cup 1999 in the UK, ICC Wills Cup 1998 at Bangladesh and the Coca Cola Cup 1998 at Sharjah. saying if the figures quoted are erroneous, the conclusions based on those figures are bound to be erroneous."

The booklet released by the BCCI after the special general body meeting at Calcutta on November 29 claims that it received Rs 10.75 crores from the ECB for taking part in the 1999 World Cup. The CBI on the other hand had projected a figure of Rs 1.5 crore. The BCCI also claims that the ECB had earned Rs 235.5 crore from the event and not just Rs 26 crore as quoted by the CBI.

On the 1998 Bangladesh event, the booklet said the BCCI had earned Rs 51 lakh as guarantee money for participation and not Rs 46 lakh as stated by the investigative agency. The BCCI claims that the ICC, the organisers of the event, had received Rs 62.50 crore, substantially more than the Rs 35 crore quoted in the CBI report.