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Prabhakar hands over videocassette to CBI

Former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar today submitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation the video recordings of what he said were interviews with the who's-who of Indian cricket, some politicians and certain others on the existence of match-fixing and betting in the game.

Prabhakar went to the CBI office in the afternoon and handed over the recordings running into eight to 10 cassettes to the investigating team headed by Joint Director R N Sawani.

The former Test cricketer shocked the country on May 24 with his sensational disclosure that cricketing icon Kapil Dev was the person who had offered him Rs 2.5 million to underperform in a one-day international match against Pakistan in the Singer Cup tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994.

On May 27, he tore apart the edifice of the game in the country by making damning disclosures on the malpractice in a secretly recorded ninety-minute videotape in which he secretly recorded players and administrators making some stunning revelations.

The video recording was done by Prabhakar and a team of the Web site tehelka.com

The names of Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Ajay Sharma figure prominently among those allegedly involved in the fixing racket.

Coming out of the CBI office, accompanied by tehelka.com managing director Tarun Tejpal, Prabhakar told reporters that what he had shown the media was an edited version. The CBI has been given the unedited recording running into eight-ten cassettes, he added.

Asked if he was questioned by the CBI about the recording, Prabhakar said, "No question was asked. I was only introduced to certain officials [of the CBI investigating team], whom I met for the first time."

Tejpal said the recording was three-fourths of the total recorded material. Prabhakar said, "I have given the tapes to the CBI... it is for them to see it."

The sensational presentation of the video recording, which caught the reporters, players and officials in unguarded moments, revealed the dirty goings-on in the game. The tape, titled 'Fallen Heroes -- the Inside Story of a Nation Betrayed', carries illegally recorded interviews of Union Sports Minister Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa, International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya, Board of Control for Cricket in India president A C Muthiah, BCCI secretary J Y Lele and former president I S Bindra.

Others who feature in the tapes are former Indian team physiotherapist Ali Irani, Bombay Commissioner of Police (Railways) Rakesh Maria, Additional Income-Tax Commissioner Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, Sports Authority of India secretary Amrit Mathur, former Test stars Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Kirti Azad, Mohinder Amarnath, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Prashant Vaidya, Ajit Wadekar, Bishen Singh Bedi, Kiran More, Sandeep Patil and Sanjay Manjrekar.

Apart from them, the recorded versions of Congress leader Kamal Nath, a film actress and a proprietor of a chit-fund company also figure in the tapes.

The video recordings brought out specific instances of alleged match-fixing and betting involving Indians as mentioned by those who were 'interviewed'.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti has demanded Prabhakar's arrest for allegedly defrauding people to the tune of Rs 500 million through his chit-fund company.

In a statement, the central co-ordinator of the organisation, Dhirendra Pratap, demanded a CBI inquiry into the Apace Company scandal in which about Rs 500 million were collected from innocent people of the region in the name of the financial company. Prabhakar is one of the directors of the company.

Pratap warned that his organisation would launch an agitation if action was not initiated to recover the money.

Prabhakar, however, denied any connection with the fraud, saying he was in no way connected with the company, least of all as director. He told reporters that attempts were being made to implicate him in a false case. "This is part of a malicious campaign against me," he said.

The Nainital police too had yesterday alleged that Prabhakar had defrauded the public of millions of rupees collected through fake chit-fund schemes. They claimed to have some evidence against him.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Mehrotra said four cases of fraud had been registered against Prabhakar, who ran a big public campaign that included several public meetings, in 1994 to convince people to invest in the Apace India Group of Companies, of which he was a director.

Prabhakar said, "I was not connected with the company. There is nothing to suggest my involvement in the case. I am neither a co-promoter nor on the board of directors of any of the Lucknow-based Apace Group of Companies."

He presented documents and receipts from the Department of Company Affairs of the Uttar Pradesh government in support of his stand.

Prabhakar accused Rashtriya Sahara, a newspaper of the Sahara Group, of conducting a vilification campaign against him. "It is to be noted that this motivated campaign against me started around the time that I was slated to appear before the CBI to reveal to them the name of the teammate who offered me Rs 25 lakh," he said in a statement distributed to the press.

He urged the media to countercheck its sources and information before putting out damaging reports against him. Asked the possible reason for the so-called campaign launched against him by Rashtriya Sahara, he retorted, "Who is the director of Sahara?"

Prabhakar said he had actually lost a lot of money owing to the company, which was marketing his company's product.

The DCA annexures said Prabhakar's name did not exist as a member of any of the six Apace companies -- Apace Savings and Mutual Benefits Ltd, Apace Indian Corporation Ltd, Apace Housings and Constructions Ltd, Apace Plantations and Resorts Ltd, Apace Indian Marketing Ltd and APS Nidhi and Finance Ltd. His name also did not figure in the subscribers' list of the memorandum of articles of association of any of the companies, he said.

UNI

The Betting Scandal: The full story