Kapil sues Prabhakar as legal debate continues over tapes

In an expected move, Indian coach Kapil Dev served a notice to both former Indian all rounder Manoj Prabhakar and owners of tehelka.com web site. In his legal notice, Kapil has demanded a public apology for causing damage to his reputation by levelling 'false' allegations, his counsel VN Koura said on Monday.

Giving a weeks time for Prabhakar and the owners to respond, Koura said he would decide the future course of action on whether to take up the matter in the Delhi High Court. Koura said "If so, the petition will be filed in July, as only urgent matters are taken up during the court's summer vacation." On claims of damages Koura said "We have not made any assessment as yet because the guns are still booming. That is, Prabhakar is still making allegations,". The lawyer added he would "wait for the guns to calm down" and then calculate the sum.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is examining the transcripts of Prabhakar's secretly recorded video tapes which are available on a web site. The transcripts are of former commentator Narottam Puri, former Indian captains Ajit Wadekar and Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian players Navjot Sidhu and Kiran More and Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria.

Tarun Tejpal, managing director of the website said he would hand over the tapes to the CBI 'soon'. He added "We will also hand over other physical evidence to the CBI." The tapes contain interviews with players, officials and others which were recorded without their knowledge.

The video recordings may have created a sensation, but there is growing debate among the legal experts whether the tapes are admissible as evidence in the law. Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan, responding to a question from a news agency, said "It is a piece of evidence that is heresay upon heresay on audio tape." He added the tape-recorded evidence had to be contemporaneous, authentic and untampered to be admissible as secondary evidence in Indian courts."

Dhawan added "There is no question of the tapes being contemporaneous as they are recorded six years after the actual event." Dhawan felt during the interview people have used "usne kaha tha" (he told me) which may ultimately prove to be a big drawback as these are third party conversation which refers to Prabhakar as having told them.

Standing by the tapes, another senior advocate Shanti Bhushan and Prabhakar's counsel Nidesh Gupta have said the tapes are "concrete evidence". Bhushan said the persons who spoke to Prabhakar, ``unaware of the secret camera, could be called by the court, once the CBI files a chargesheet, and asked to give evidence. These persons will be under tremendous public pressure to stand by their statements made on tape."

On his part Nidesh Gupta said "Several specific instances have been mentioned by different people which stand corroborated by various other pieces of evidence including actual occurrences during the course of the said matches."

Meanwhile, former Indian medium-pacer Prashant Vaidya in a statement said he felt let down by Prabhakar showing the video tapes. "I feel let down by a friend in whom I reposed a trust which now turns out to be misplaced." He added "There was no necessity for Prabhakar to secretly record my conversation with him. I am a person who would always stand by truth. Prabhakar will himself be exposed, I was not privy or witness to the incident alleged by him."

Vaidya in the tape was quoted as saying: "What an actor he (Kapil) is... Never seen such a great actor." Defending himself, Vaidya said he meant that Kapil should have controlled his emotions. "I have no intention whatsoever of involving myself in the controversy. I am away from cricket for the past four years after my retirement and do not wish to become a part of an unsavoury controversy of which I have no personal knowledge."

On a separate note, Shahnawaz Hussein, the new Minister of State for Sport and Youth Affairs, said "it is evident that the image of cricket has been more than tarnished and the government is bent on cleaning up the mess." In a newspaper interview, he said that once the Sports Minister SS Dhindsa returns from abroad the two of them would sit together and convene a meeting. They would study the impact of the Prabhakar videotapes and discuss how they could expand the scope of the investigation so that truth was ultimately revealed.