No news is good news for the beleaguered players

Match fixing allegations. Income Tax raids. `Clinching' evidence. An increasingly aggressive government. Unfriendly public opinions. There seems to be no respite for the beleaguered players on the match fixing front. Every day brings fresh bad news or setbacks to their hopes of being resurrected. On Wednesday for example, Kapil Dev received news that could not have been music to his ears.

The Ludhiana Citizens Council, which honoured the former Indian captain when he became the highest wicket taker in Tests, said it would withdraw the award if he was found guilty in the match fixing scandal. The LCC had presented a cash award of Rs 4.32 lakhs to Kapil Dev at a public function in Ludhiana when he broke Sir Richard Hadlee's world record of 431 wickets. The LCC president Agya Pal Singh said the amount was collected through public donations. If Kapil Dev was guilty, the LCC would ask for the amount to be returned and use it for charitable purposes. The LCC also said it might move the court in case the present Indian coach failed to respond.

The opening of the lockers by income tax authorities continued on Wednesday and some of the contents have produced, in the words of IT Director-General SC Parija, ``clinching evidence'' of undisclosed income which could ultimately lead to match-fixing.

IT officials opened three more lockers belonging to a bookie in New Delhi and recovered jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh from it, according to sources. With this the number of lockers, sealed during the massive searches conducted by the authorities at the premises of leading cricketers, administrators and bookies, opened since Tuesday goes to five.

Highly-placed IT sources said that jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh was found in two lockers opened on Wednesday while contents of the third one were still being scrutinised. The sources said the three lockers belonged to a bookie and his relatives.

The IT authorities had found jewellery worth Rs five lakh reportedly from a cricketer's locker opened on Tuesday. The sources said the IT authorities were ascertaining whether the jewellery had been included in the annual returns filed by the cricketer before initiating action against him.

Given this background, it certainly will not be a warm welcome back home for Md Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Nikhil Chopra when the three return after playing in the one day match at the Oval on July 29. Indian revenue detectives said on Wednesday they were waiting to interview the three leading cricketers on their return. ``They will be closely questioned on their return,'' said a source from the department.

Jadeja has already been questioned by the CBI, which is probing only the match-fixing element. IT sources said the three players' homes would be also searched in their presence.

Indian revenue officials, who during the raids sealed 60 bank safe deposit boxes, said detectives found one million rupees worth of ornaments from one of the three boxes searched here on Wednesday.

``The lockers are a virtual treasure trove,'' one said, adding the department was determined to search each and every safe deposit box belonging to cricketers, officials and bookmakers who are under scrutiny.

Earlier, jewellery worth half a million rupees was confiscated from the bank safe of an unnamed player, who is being investigated for his role in fixing international matches in league with bookies in India and abroad.

Tax officials said that besides examining the deposit boxes for unaccounted wealth, detectives have also started the task of scrutinising documents which have been siezed during the raids conducted on July 20 and 21.

Indian authorities are trying to establish that some of the cricketers and officials have amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. Prosecution on various tax evasion charges could lead to jail terms ranging from three to seven years, as well as huge fines.

Across the Indian border, there was more bad news for the players with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Gen. Tauqir Zia making a statement that the Pakistani cricketers will be officially ``watchdogged'' on home and away tours to keep them in check.

The extraordinary step of planting a mole, the identity of whom will be kept secret, among the national side follows a spate of matchfixing allegations and off-field discipline problems which has tarnished the reputation of Pakistani cricket.

It is part of a range of drastic measures the PCB plans to introduce to ``make the players' image clean and clear,'' Zia said.

``As per Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum's report we have decided to keep players under tight control and an official will keep a tight check on their activities on and off the field,'' Zia said.

He said a ``one-man commission'' would also be set up to check the players' assets, and tough clauses would be introduced into their contracts banning them from unauthorised phone calls and liaisons in hotel rooms.

``The notable thing is that players will not be able to know who the man watching them is and he will accompany the team during home and away series,'' Zia said. He added that the secret observer will report to the PCB after every series, he said.

Pakistan's first assignment is a triangular one-day tournament in Singapore against South Africa and New Zealand between August 20-28. ``If I get a suitable person the process may start from Singapore,'' General Zia said. Now there is a man of action!