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Summary of CBI match-fixing report
Updated: Wednesday November 01, 2000 9:56 AM NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian federal investigators on Wednesday named several top world cricketers in a report on match-fixing. Following is a summary of findings by the Central Bureau of Investigation, whose report was released by the government. Several players have denied elements of the report. -- Betting on cricket was prevalant in India on a small scale for a long time, but became a big phenomenon after India won the 1983 World Cup. -- Betting took off once regular live telecasts of cricket matches started. It spread across the country with the arrival of mobile phones and computers into India. -- Betting has increased to such proportions that the turnover on any one-day international anywhere in the world runs into millions of dollars. -- "There are clear signals that the underworld mafia has started taking interest in the betting racket and can be expected to take overall control of this activiy if not checked immediately with a firm hand." Small time, individual betting has been replaced by an organised syndicate which has started interfering in the purity of the game. -- "With a large amount of money at stake in the betting racket on cricket, it makes sense for both bookies and punters to manipulate results of cricket matches. This has resulted in their developing a close and unholy relationship with cricketers." -- India's Ajay Sharma, who played one test, introduced former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, fast bowler Manoj Prabhakar and one-day specialist Ajay Jadeja to bookie Mukesh Gupta and "big-time punter" Ajay Gupta. Sharma received hundreds of thousands of rupees from Mukesh Gupta and was responsible for getting a tailor-made pitch prepared for a test match on Gupta's instructions. -- Prabhakar is close to a number of bookies. He introduced them to several foreign players and gave them key match information for which he received large sums of money. -- Azharuddin has fixed matches and performances for bookie Mukesh Gupta and punter Ajay Gupta with the help of Jadeja and wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia. He received money both directly from Mukesh Gupta and also through the Indian team's former physiotherapist Dr. Ali Irani. -- Irani was well aware of the reasons for the payments Azharuddin received from Mukesh Gupta. Azharuddin paid Irani whenever he got payments through him. -- Mongia has been named by Azharuddin as one of the players involved with him in fixing matches. -- A number of foreign players were introduced by Prabhakar to Mukesh Gupta. They were former England skipper Alec Stewart, former West Indies captain Brian Lara, Australian batsman Mark Waugh, former Australian batsman Dean Jones, former South African captain Hansie Cronje, former Sri Lankan skippers Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga, former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and former Pakistani skipper Salim Malik. -- Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal has provided information about cricket matches to Bombay bookie Anil Steel and has also received gifts from him. -- Punter Rattan Mehta claims to have received opinions on matches and given gifts to Pakistani cricketers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar. -- Prabhakar's allegation that he was offered 2.5 million rupees (US$53,500) by former Indian captain Kapil Dev to underperform in a cricket match against Pakistan during the Singer Cup in 1994 has not been proved. -- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) "did not care" to investigate allegations related to match-fixing which were bound to be known to it. "Although there is no concrete evidence to suggest the direct involvement of any of the members of the BCCI in match-fixing, their resolute indifference does give rise to the suspicion that there was perhaps more than...meets the eye." -- Further investigation is required to unravel "the entire sordid nexus between the cricket players, bookies and punters" and the CBI inquiry will continue.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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