Law Minister hints at amnesty if players admit wrongdoing

After days of inaction, things have started to move full swing in the match fixing scandal. And Indian Law Minister Ram Jethmalani on Friday gave an interesting twist to the proceedings by hinting that amnesty could be given to those Indian players who ``admit their wrongdoing publicly and pay taxes on their concealed income.'' He added that "If there is genuine repentance and remorse, then the fact that the cricketers are suffering public humiliation should be considered enough punishment and we should forgive and forget."

Jethmalani's hint at amnesty for the players was through an official release by the government. He said "The cricketers should pledge publicly that this conduct will not be repeated again" but stressed that "if there are any foreign exchange offences or links with the underworld, then these had to be fully investigated." The official release comes in the wake of Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa's interview wherein he termed Jethmalani's earlier statement to forgive and forget as ``it was his personal opinion'

Earlier, talking to the newsmen in New Delhi, Dhindsa was forthright in accepting that the none of the players had either accepted or confessed of their knowledge in match-fixing. Dhindsa said "Till date not a single person has come forward to confess his involvement in the scandal," and added "everybody knows that not all the players are clean." When asked whether the immunity offer to Indian players still remains, Dhindsa replied "I still stand by that but it appears that nobody will come forward to confess."

Dhindsa maintained that the government was determined to bring those involved to book. He said "We have committed to Parliament as well as to the people that the Government will do a thorough investigation. So, it is our duty to find the truth and bring the guilty to book." Dhindsa also had a word of praise for the CBI for doing an excellent job of the task entrusted to it.

When asked whether the BCCI has submitted its report on match fixing and a code of conduct for the players, the Sports Minister said "though two months have passed, no one from the board has contacted me so far. There is no news from the BCCI in this regard. Two of the three months time they had asked for has lapsed. We will wait for the board's report."

Asked on his ministry's role with regards to the South African authorities over on the match-fixing issue, Dhindsa said "The Sports Ministry is not in the picture now." He added "It is the CBI and Delhi police which is probing the case. As long as they are into it, the ministry is not going to do anything significant on the match-fixing issue."

In a related development, the Delhi Police has requested the South African authorities to hand over the tapes with the testimony made by Hansie Cronje before the King Commission of inquiry in South Africa. Delhi Police commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma said "We have made a request three to four days back to the South African authorities to provide us the tapes of the submissions made by Cronje before the King Commission."

When asked about the delay in the progress of the case, Sharma said the delay in filing a charge sheet against those involved in match-fixing in India was because of the delay in deportation of Sanjeev Chawla. Sharma said "there is a likelihood of the investigation going on for two to three months or maybe even more, as the investigators are awaiting deportation of London-based Indian businessman Sanjeev Chawla."

About whether any new names have surfaced in the match-fixing case, Sharma said "We are verifying those names and trying to assess whether they have any role to play." He also said that Delhi police are verifying the involvement of Mukesh Gupta in the one-day series between India and South Africa played early this year.

Meanwhile, after a gap of over a week, an Indian player appeared before the CBI on Thursday. Indian off spinner Nikhil Chopra was questioned for over an hour and a half at the agency's headquarters in New Delhi. Chopra is believed to have been quizzed on match-fixing and the involvement of Indian players in the same. Chopra, who is believed to be close to former Indian captain Kapil Dev, said "he was summoned to come a couple of days back."

Speaking to reporters after the questioning, Chopra said "for about 30-45 minutes I had a friendly chat and was asked some general stuff." Asked whether he was grilled on his alleged links with Sanjeev Chawla, Chopra replied in the negative. Both Chopra and the CBI officials clarified that he (Chopra) was not particularly called because he was Mukesh Gupta's neighbour. An official said "There is no link; in fact, Chopra had been called earlier."

Later talking to a newspaper, Chopra said that general queries had been put to him and added that the CBI would probably call all the Indian players. "Probably some others are out of the country. Even I was to go to England. I thought I would get this out of the way," he said.

In South Africa, the King Commission said it has sought a month's time to submit its interim report to the President. In all probability, the report will be presented by August 11. According to commission secretary John Bacon ``the extension has been necessitated by the volume of work involved in the preparation of the interim report.''

After a cloudy week, the monsoon has set in not only in various parts of the country but also on the match-fixing arena. As the adage goes, when it rains it pours!