What was your immediate reaction to the report? Were you shocked?
Shocked I was, but not shaken. Because the reports about the possible outcome of the CBI
investigation had been appearing in the media for sometime before it was released.
But Board for Control of Cricket in India secretary J Y Lele still believes that match-fixing does not
take place in India.
This is a serious issue and let us not drag Lele into it.
Do you concede that match-fixing was taking
place?
So it seems from the report. Some players have also confessed
that they were involved.
But match-fixing did not exist to the level that
it was made out to be initially. The CBI itself says that
it has found evidence of only one match being fixed.
What action do you plan against the tainted
players besides asking state cricket associations
not to pick them for domestic matches?
We have given the report to K Madhavan, who is
commissioner with the board. He will go through the report. The CBI has done a
good job. It has collected lot of evidence against those involved in match-fixing. It has
given specific instances of match-fixing. Madhavan,
who was joint director with the CBI, told us that
it is a good report. But he is assessing it. He will be free to call the
players concerned and ask them questions if he feels that
there is a need. He will then hand over the
report to us with comments. We will take it at our disciplinary committee meeting and later the
working committee of the board will approve of the
actions recommended. It will take about 15 days
to complete formalities.
We have suspended M Azharuddin, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma and Nayan Mongia
pending internal investigations.
Can you impose a life ban and erase their records?
This is possible because our code of conduct recommends it.
Dean Jones has also confirmed the involvement of
Prabhakar, who was shouting from the roof-tops about the involvement of Indian players in match-fixing. Do you think he [Manoj] is also involved
although he claims innocence?
He is definitely involved if Jones confirms that he had spoken to bookie Mukesh Gupta through
Prabhakar.
Now that Kapil Dev has been cleared, will you bring him back?
Bring him back as what? He does not want to be associated with cricket any more.
Are you upset with some comments by the
CBI about the functioning of the board?
Of course, we are upset because they are not true.
How is it possible that the board was unaware of what was going on?
How do I know what a player is doing behind our backs. We may have been a bit lax
but we certainly did not know that match-fixing was going on. We have told this to Dhindsa also. He was very happy with the prompt
action taken by the BCCI against the tainted players.
Has the Sri Lankan board got in touch?
Yes, they have asked us for a copy of the report, which was couriered to
them.
Are you aware that ICC officials are meeting the CBI?
Yes, a team will visit India and meet CBI officials. They
have been in touch with us and they would also meet Madhavan and seek his views.
What about the tour to Pakistan? Have you asked the
government for clearance?
We have made a proposal to the Union government and asked for approval and we
hope to get clearance within a week.
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