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BANGALORE
-- The rumors were always there, but nobody really took them
seriously at first. Until Outlook magazine broke the story in its
June 11, 1997 issue where former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar said he
was offered Rs 25 lakh (around $55,000) by a teammate to sabotage
a match in Pakistan's favor during the 1994 Singer Cup in Sri
Lanka. Prabhakar claimed he threw the alleged enticer out of the
room, thereby earning a gambling clique's ire. Subsequently, he
wrote in Outlook, offers to throw matches flowed regularly.
Prabhakar was roundly condemned for this article,
which hardly anybody believed, especially after the one-man
inquiry commission of Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, appointed by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), concluded that while
there was large-scale betting, no Indian cricketer was involved in
match-fixing.
All was quiet for the next three years until Delhi
police eavesdropped on some telephone conversations early this
year. Apparently they had received complaints about extortion
calls from Dubai to a south Delhi businessman and decided to tap
his phones. They discovered that someone from Delhi was also
calling the same Dubai number and that there were constant
references to cricket. This led them to a London businessman who,
incidentally, owned a home in Delhi. After the London
businessman's calls were monitored, police focused on a Delhi
bookie, Rajesh Kalra, and a cricket captain. Realizing that what
was going on wasn't quite cricket, the police brought the Crime
Branch into the picture. The Crime Branch also initially did not
have a clue that they were onto something really big when they
decided to investigate.
All TV channels beamed the now-famous conversation
excerpts with voice-overs which damned the cricket captain. He is
quoted, among other things, as saying "the other guys are
already angry with me because I have not received their
money" and that "they want 25 each... how much can you
pay me?" While police were on the job, the businessman
returned to London, escaping arrest. The Crime Branch then
arrested Rajesh Kalra on April 6 on charges of cheating, fraud and
criminal conspiracy.
Outlook magazine, which has been carrying on a
relentless campaign against corruption in cricket, accused BCCI of
covering up in collusion with the International Cricket Council (ICC)
and the government. It said that the Mumbai police was being
pressured not to make public evidence it had on Indian players.
However, reports speak of records of conversations that the
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the MTNL (Maha Nagar
Telephone Nigam Limited) have between cricketers and bookies.
According to Outlook, Delhi police, who unwittingly opened the can
of worms, also have been asked to keep off Indian players even
though the Sunday Times of London reported that Rajesh Kalra had
told police of the involvement of three other Indian players.
Among others implicated are a team coach and a cricket official.
There is evidence that Dubai-based underworld dons
are big players in the racket. They demand protection money from
bookies in return for safety of profits. According to Outlook,
bets on a single game are in the region of RS 300 crore and RS 400
crore. When a cricket match is on, much of India stops to watch.
Cricket is almost a religion here. To see the game's idols fall in
their worship of Mammon has turned a generation of idol
worshippers into cynics. Following a public interest litigation by
a couple of distraught fans, an inquiry by the Central Bureau of
Investigation has been ordered. But will the truth ever come out?
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