All eyes are on Chennai, the venue for the meeting of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India's three-member committee of AC Muthiah,
Kamal Morarka and Ram Prasad which is expected to (hopefully) take a
final decision on the tainted players in accordance with the Madhavan
committee report. Sources close to the BCCI chief said on Monday that
the meeting was likely to take place on Tuesday.
But going by the recent outbursts of Morarka, the BCCI vice-president,
the meeting tomorrow could be a non-starter. Morarka has come down
heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and this has put
the BCCI in great deal of embarrassment.
Talking to a website, Morarka said that the CBI's findings is similar
to a 'prostitute's diary' and described the report as a 'big joke.'
"What is the credibility of such a report?" Morarka asked adding that
"It is like a prostitute's diary. You will find names of so many rich
and famous people there. How does a set of names in a bookie's diary
matter?"
In a blistering attack on India's premier agency, AFP quoting Morarka
said "I sincerely believe that there is no organisation in India that
is as corrupt as the CBI. He added "the corrupt" CBI had not been able
to prove the match-fixing charges against the players. All they have
concluded is that match-fixing exists in cricket. So what is this
great thing that they have done? Everybody knew that match-fixing
exists in cricket."
Disassociating himself from the statement, Muthiah said it was his
(Morarka) personal opinion, while a CBI spokesman refused to comment
on the BCCI vice president's outburst, except to say it had enough
evidence against the cricketers to nail them.
Talking to PTI on Sunday, Muthiah gave a stern warning that "I will be
fair, but strict in deciding on the punishments to the five
cricketers. The judgement would be based as per the findings of BCCI's
anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan. I have the authority to
decide and I will not be cowed down. The Board's decision would be
announced in a couple of days time."
Muthiah said the delay in the decision was because the board was
seeking a legal opinion before meting out punishment. He said "As
president, I have to safeguard the Board's interests. I had to seek
legal opinion before deciding on taking any action on the indicted
players."
The BCCI which held a special general body meeting in Calcutta last
week to discuss both the CBI and the Madhavan committee report is
expected to decide the quantum of punishment on Mohammad Azharuddin,
Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Nayan Mongia and Ajay Sharma, who have
been named in the CBI report on match-fixing and betting on their
alleged involvement in the scandal.
Meanwhile, the chairman of selectors Chandu Borde said he was unaware
of the remarks made by Muthiah that the selectors erred in having
Nikhil Chopra in the one-day squad. The Delhi player has been alleged
to be involved in the scandal though he has been cleared in the CBI
report.
Talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Borde said that he had neither read
the report nor heard Muthiah's reaction on the selectors decision.
Borde added "I will be meeting the board secretary Jaywant Lele
tomorrow and then discuss it with him before I say anything to the
media as I don't want to create any misunderstandings." When quizzed
whether the remark puts him under pressure, Borde said "I don't want
to put my neck in. Let me speak to Lele tomorrow and then decide as I
have not got direct communications from the board and it is always the
secretary who communicates with the selection committee."
Earlier, Muthiah said that it was an 'error' on the part of the
national selectors in having picked Chopra for the one-day matches
against Zimbabwe as there was a 'technical problem' in allowing him to
play for the country. "I came to know of Chopra's inclusion through
newspapers while on a flight from Chennai to New Delhi," he said. The
BCCI chief added that "Though I felt sorry for Chopra for such an
action, as BCCI President I had to safeguard the interests of the
Board. Therefore, his omission was necessary." His final word on the
players who have been named in the report was " No player who has been
found guilty or mentioned by CBI can represent the country."
Meanwhile, the Minister for State for Sports Pon. Radhakrishnan
reiterated the Government's stand in New Delhi on Sunday that the
centre has no move to take over the BCCI. Radhakrishnan said that "the
government had asked the BCCI to offer its comments on various aspects
of the CBI match-fixing report, including the observations made by the
agency on the Board's functioning."
In a related development, the Sri Lankan investigator Desmond Fernando
who is probing the bribe charges made in the CBI report on two Sri
Lankan players Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva, has sought the
help of the Indian High Commission to have a meeting with alleged
bookie Mukesh Gupta alias MK. Fernando said he has written to the
Indian authorities in Colombo to permit him to meet Gupta at the
earliest to cross examine him on his allegations against Ranatunga and
De Silva