Kapil Dev hurls bouncers at Bindra, CNN

After being on the back burner for the last few days, the defamation suit has resurfaced again. Indian coach Kapil Dev's counsel VN Koura said in New Delhi on Tuesday said the former Indian captain would be filing a Rs.10 crore defamation suit against former BCCI chief Inderjit Singh Bindra and US TV giant CNN. He also said that the assessment of the amount to be claimed as damages is in process against Manoj Prabhakar and the website tehelka.com.

The case was filed on May 29 against all parties concerned to tender an apology within a week's time. This deadline having expired, Koura said Kapil will go ahead with his defamation suit. Bindra in an interview to CNN had said that Prabhakar had named Kapil Dev as the player who offered him a bribe of Rs 25 lakhs to under perform in the Singer Cup tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994 to him (Bindra). This was later confirmed by Prabhakar at a press conference which followed the interview on the website.

"Bindra's interview broadcast by CNN has caused real damage to Kapil Dev's reputation and we are planning to file a damage suit for Rs 10 crore against them in the Delhi High Court after the summer vacation in July as the four respondents have failed to reply to the legal notices sent to them," Koura said.

"A separate damage suit against Prabhakar and tehelka.com would be filed," Koura said. He added "we are ascertaining from various sources the financial standing of Prabhakar and tehelka.com as it is very important in civil suits to know the paying capacity of persons who are being sued so that the case stands all legal tests in a court of law."

Prabhakar and a journalist of tehelka.com website at a press meet about ten days ago played a portion of a secretly video taped film. The tapes have over 40 hours of interviews with players, officials and others.

With players hogging the limelight, the CBI has been pushed backstage. The agency, which is investigating the match-fixing scandal, said on Tuesday that it was zeroing on nearly a hundred bookies identified during the course of the probe. CBI sources said that the agency had identified about 100 top bookies suspected to have close contacts with players alleged to be involved in match-fixing and betting.

Meanwhile, the focus shifted back to Hansie Cronje with the King Commission of Inquiry beginning its proceedings today in Durban. A Delhi police officer Ishwar Singh Redu, involved in the investigations of the match-fixing scandal, is expected to attend the hearings and monitor the proceedings of the commission. This was confirmed by the King Commission of Inquiry secretary John Bacon.

Bacon said the Cronje tapes, crucial for the proceedings are yet to be received from India. He said "we have not heard anything from India yet. Perhaps the Indians do not wish this evidence to be made available to defence counsel at this stage." He added "over forty players are expected to be heard. The offer to the South African team to throw a match in India in 1996 is also expected to be heard."