Mystery surrounds Kaneria's sudden departure from Pak to India

Mystery surrounds the sudden departure of Pakistan's banned Test leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria and his family to India although his brother claims they have gone to perform some religious rituals.

Kaneria, his wife, children and his mother flew out to India on Sunday night and are presently said to be in Kochi but speculations are rampant that the banned player might have gone to India to seek a livelihood and settle down there.

"My family is in India to perform some religious rituals which will take around 10-days. Our return dates are not confirmed as yet," Kaneria told a television channel from India.

His brother, Vicky Kaneria, who is in Karachi and employed with an oil campany also insisted it was a personal trip for religious purposes. But he was unwilling to speak further on the issue.

Speculations have been rife over the real purpose of the visit to India as Danish Kaneria had earlier this year reportedly said he would have got more justice in India being a Hindu by faith.

Fed up with the non-cooperation of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Danish had caused an uproar in Pakistani cricket circles when he said that if he had not been a Hindu his case would have been handled differently by the cricket board.

The leg-spinner was also disappointed when he got no response to a letter he wrote to Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif in early April about his case.

The leg-spinner, who appeared in 61 Tests for Pakistan, was banned in 2012 by the England and Wales Cricket Board for life for spot-fixing and has since then also lost two appeals to have the ban overturned.

Kaneria is facing another case in the Sindh High Court where the ECB has filed a petition for recovery of fines and costs of the case totaling over 200,000 pounds.

At the last hearing of the case the court ordered that details of the bank accounts of the leg spinner be submitted with it.

Speculations are rife since in the last two years number of Hindu families have migrated to India.

In his letters sent to the prime minister and other government dignitaries and ministers, Kaneria has pleaded his case on humanitarian grounds.

According to Kaneria's earlier statements, his involvement is yet to be proven in a court of law, but the PCB and the ECB have maintained their life ban on him and prevented him from earning his livelihood.

IMAGE: Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters