The pressure mounts on Prabhakar

Former Indian all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar is under pressure to reveal all he knows. First, it was Sports Minister SS Dhindsa and now it is the BCCI president AC Muthiah who has asked Prabhakar to come out with the truth. So far Prabhakar has not met the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials inquiring into the match-fixing and betting allegations.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has warned the Delhi player to come out with the truth as soon as possible or face action. In an interview to a website on Sunday, Muthiah said "I can promise you that if Prabhakar is not telling the truth, then he will face stiff action from the board." Muthiah said it's high time that Prabhakar goes to the CBI and tells them what he knows about corruption in the game. Incidentally, Prabhakar had been insisting on a CBI inquiry for the last three years.

To a question on Prabhakar's delay in apearing before the CBI, Muthiah replied it was difficult to say why he has not met officials of the agency though he felt Prabhakar should have been the first person to depose before the investigators. "The way he has been putting off his deposition before the agency gives the impression that he has very little or nothing to tell,'' Muthiah added.

On BCCI witholding the benevolent fund to Prabhakar, Muthiah said the fund was withheld in an attempt to prevent him from saying the amount was released to keep him tightlipped on the issue. Muthiah said he met the former Delhi allrounder sometime ago and asked him whether he met the CBI officers. Prabhakar, according to the Board chief, said he would be meeting them in due course.

Earlier, Dhindsa on Saturday had asked Prabhakar not to delay any further and asked him to depose before India's premier investigative agency. He said if Prabhkar does not meet CBI officials, then the agency may have to go and meet Prabhakar to get any information that he may be holding back. Dhindsa said "Manoj is a complainant and hence cannot be treated like an accused. The agency is giving him time to collect evidence. But if the government finds that he is reluctant to go before the CBI, than it would direct the CBI to go to him. After all he had been clamouring for an inquiry for more then three years now."