Jadeja too stays away, sends written statement

The Sports Ministry's exercise of asking for explanations from three indicted cricketers as to why Arjuna Awards conferred on them should not be withdrawn, proved to be a non-starter with none of them appearing before the one-man committee set up for the purpose.

After Manoj Prabhakar and Mohd Azharuddin stayed away from the one man panel of Joint Secretary JP Singh over the last two days, Ajay Jadeja too did not turn up on Wednesday to reply to the show-cause notice.

Singh however said he had received written replies from all three of them. "I have received written explanations from all three players. Jadeja will not come now," Singh told waiting reporters.

Azharuddin, Jadeja and Prabhakar have been found guilty of match-fixing practices by the CBI and the Cricket Board's internal inquiry, conducted by its Anti-Corruption Commissioner K Madhavan, and the Sports Ministry said it was considering withdrawing national honours bestowed on them.

Singh declined to disclose the contents of the letters received from the three former players saying he had not read the letters yet. He also refused to reveal the future course of action by the government.

Azharuddin, Prabhakar and Jadeja were conferred Arjuna Awards in 1986, 1993 and 1997 respectively. In his letter to the Ministry, Jadeja asked for the Arjuna Award 'Rule book', a source close to the cricketer told PTI yesterday. "Jadeja has recently written a letter in this regard as Madhavan Committee Report was made available to him only last week," the source said.