Indian news round-up

Bombay Gymkhana club's 18-member managing committee has asked its president Gautam Thakkar to resign following two meetings of the committee on Thursday and Friday in Mumbai. During the course of the meeting, the members asked Thakkar to put in his papers following a huge sum of both Indian and foreign currency apart from some documents being unearthed from a locker belonging to former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar. The former Indian opener is said to be a close friend of Thakkar.

According to an Indian newspaper, the members have asked Thakkar to quit for not keeping them informed about the developments. According to the report, sources said that the meeting was convened following the income tax department turning the heat on the club for not giving an accurate picture of the contents in the locker.

In response to the the income tax notices, the club management had said that only Rs 1.25 lakh in Indian currency and a few hundred Bangladeshi takas and Sri Lankan rupees were found in the locker. The taxman was told that there was only a neglible amount of US dollars. The gym had submitted a copy of the two-page panchnama to the IT officials to support its case. The committee has also sacked the chief executive officer of the club, Col.(retd) Negi who had signed the document given to the IT department claiming that only Rs.1.25 lakhs was found in the locker. The members have threatened to quit en masse if Thakkar does not resign by Wednesday.

A professor of forensic science at the National Law School of India University, Dr P Chandra Shekaran has suggested the use of forensic science in the ongoing match-fixing scandal by countries which are investigating into it. Talking to a news agency Prof. Shekharan said "the King Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation, which are looking into the scandal, should allow infallible forensic evidence in their investigations."

A few measures suggested by Prof. Shekharan where forensic science can be used are in Manoj Prabhakar's clandestine tapes where the experts can make use of voice spectrography and video technology. The other area is forensic auditing and accounting for monetary transactions of those involved.

Prof. Shekharan said the investigating agencies could also employ the polygraph (lie-detector) test on Cronje and other witnesses. But this test was merely an investigative tool and does not amount to forensic evidence. The courts also do not consider the polygraph test as conclusive proof. To drive home his point that the procedure was nothing news, the professor recalled an earlier ocassion in cricket where the help of forensic evidence was sought. He said it was a match in Chepauk where the method was employed to find out whether a bowler had used a chemical. Prof. Shekharan said "I had noticed that the bowler, in between his bowling, meddled with his obstructing hairlocks and added "The ball was handed over to us for forensic testing and we detected traces of vaseline."

Indian all rounder Ajay Jadeja has denied that he has married Aditi, daughter of Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley. Talking to a cricket web site, Jadeja said "I have always been a person to live my life openly. If I was married, I would not hide the fact from the world. The day I get married I will be the first person to let the world know."

Jaya Jaitley and Jadeja's mother too denied reports which appeared in certain section of the media that Jadeja had secretly married Aditi and they were holidaying in London. The reports cited Jadeja's film debut as the reason for him to withhold the information. There were similar rumours a couple of months ago on Jadeja's marriage with Aditi but this too had been denied by both parties.