The noose tightens around their necks

For years, they had hogged the spotlight for the right reasons. Now they are making the headlines for the wrong reasons. The cricketing heroes of the country have been under an inky dark cloud for some time now thanks to the match fixing scandal. And the income tax raids carried out with timing and precision in various cities of the country on Thursday have only tightened the noose around their necks that much more.

The raids were always on the cards. In fact, the general consensus is that the operation was conducted a bit too late. All the same, the operation clearly took everyone involved by surprise - except the income tax officials of course for it was obviously a well planned operation. Maybe even the delay was deliberately done to throw the cricketers, officials and bookies off guard. It was certainly a major nation wide swoop and the searches, in the words of one experienced IT official were the ``biggest operation I have ever been associated with.'' Thirty six teams with an average of ten officials are said to be involved in the operation. They had to be extra careful for the players and the bookies had been expecting a raid sooner or later.

Because of the delay, it was feared that the raids might not yield any concrete results. But the whole operation was done in such a coordinated manner that from all accounts, a lot of relevant documents have been recovered while in some cases bank accounts have been sealed.

In Ahmedabad, for example, the officials raided the apartment and office of Ahmedabad-based cricket bookie Hiren Hathi believed to the ``key operations man'' for several cricketers. Unofficial sources said unaccounted income worth Rs 8.3 crore and several documents were seized from Hathi's residence.

According to IT sources, officials confiscated several incriminating documents including a bookies diary which has detailed entries of money transactions made to and by prominent cricketers and businessmen. Officials have also sealed at least one bank locker belonging to Hathi.

In New Delhi, IT officials raiding Ajay Jadeja's residence, stumbled across proof that one house in a village, south of the capital, could also be searched for more evidence. The officials immediately rushed to a new house in Khirki village and discovered that they had landed at a property belonging to a prominent political leader.

Also at another place in the capital, while conducting the investigations, officials managed to obtain a list of four more persons involved in the match fixing scandal which might amount to over Rs thirty thousand crores annually.

Confirming the success of the nation wide operations, the Union Minister of State for Finance Dhananjaya Kumar told a press conference in Bangalore that "incriminating" documents were seized and 16 bank lockers of "suspected persons" sealed during the countrywide simultaneous raid in the wake of match-fixing and telecast rights allotment scandals. He said ``the search is still going on and it may continue till tomorrow.''

Director General (Investigation) of Income Tax SC Parija said "raids, which are continuing still, have been successful as the raiding parties have found documents pertaining to properties, investments, large scale expensive gifts and unexplained expenditures. It may take some days however for the documents to be analysed.

The entire operation, as I said, was planned and well coordinated. In the nation-wide swoop, IT and CBI officials raided over 85 premises of leading cricketers, officials and bookies. Simultaneous raids were conducted at 37 places in Delhi, five in Mumbai, three each in Ahmedabad and Patiala, two in Jaipur and a few others in Hyderabad, Calcutta and Bangalore. according to IT sources.

Symbolising the effectiveness of the operation was the fact that places associated with Kapil Dev and Navjot Sidhu were simultaneously raided by officials in Chandigarh and Patiala. CBI sleuths are also said to have accompanied the IT officials during the raids, which were obviously conducted in pursuance of the ongoing CBI probe into the match-fixing scandal. In Chandigarh, the homes of Kapil Dev's older brothers Ramesh Nikhanj and Bhushan Nikhanj, and the jointly owned family saw-mill located in the local timber market, were sealed by the IT officials, who entered the premises at sunrise.

A simultaneous raid was also carried out on the Nikhanj family's once highly popular Hotel Kapil in Sector 35 in Chandigarh. Patrons were denied access to the Sixer Bar and Oval Restaurant by police guards who were posted outside the property throughout the day.

Meanwhile in Patiala, IT officers conducted similar raids on two houses and business premises. These include Sidhu's Yadavindra Colony home, his father-in-law's residence in Century Enclave, and, a business establishment. Reporters and photographers were strictly denied entry to any of the premises where the raids were in progress. In one instance in Patiala, officers conducting the raids forcibly detained a TV camera crew until they agreed to black out some shots showing faces of the officials participating in the raid.

IT officials remained tight-lipped about what was found but sources indicated that in each case, assets were being evaluated against statements made in IT returns during the past ten years. Security throughout the operations was heavy. In both Chandigarh and Patiala, for example, the IT raiding parties were accompanied by heavily-armed Punjab police personnel.

In the nation-wide operations, IT and CBI officials raided over 85 premises of leading cricketers, officials and bookies. Simultaneous raids were conducted at 37 places in Delhi, five in Mumbai, three each in Ahmedabad and Patiala, two in Jaipur and a few others in Hyderabad, Calcutta and Bangalore.