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Two cheating cases against Manoj Prabhakar

Onkar Singh in Nainital

The superintendent of police, Nainital, Ashish Mehrotra today confirmed there were two cases of cheating registered against former test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar at Haldwani, 35 km from here.

He said no arrests had been made so far in either of the cases and the investigations were still on.

Mehrotra said while one case was registered last year, the other was registered in March 2000. "I have called for the files and the details would reach me either late tonight or tomorrow morning," he added.

According to a report in Rashtriya Sahara, Manoj and two others had cheated several people in Haldwani by accepting huge sums of money and promising attractive returns.

Rashtriya Sahara is owned by Shubrato Roy, who heads the Sahara group of companies. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev is one of the directors at Sahara.

Both Kapil and Prabhakar are at the centre of betting scandal surrounding Indian cricket. Former Board of Control of Cricket in India president I S Bindra recently revealed that Prabhakar had told him that Kapil offered him (Prabhakar) Rs 24 lakh to under-perform in an international fixture.

The news report in Sahara India said the company -- Apes India Finance - had its registered office at Kaladhugi Road in Haldwani. Former Ranji player Divya Nautiyal and one Mehmood Hasan were director and general manager of the company respectively. Manoj Prabhakar was the managing director.

Prabhakar held a press conference to announce the launch of the company and he promised that the finance company would soon introduce a housing scheme for the residents of Haldwani.

Since the name of the former cricketer was involved, much interest was generated in the company and quite a few people came forward with deposits.

However, a few months later they learnt that the promoters of the company had folded up their business and left.

Today, Manoj Prabhakar could not be contacted for his reaction. His wife, however, denied Manoj's involvement in any finance company at any stage.

The matter is now being investigated by Inspector Rakesh Singh of the Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch of Nainital police.

Betting scandal: The entire coverage

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