NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Tired CBI may go to Prabhakar to get the info

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa today said if test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar delayed his deposition before the Central Bureau of Investigation any further, the investigating agency may have to go to him and seek information he has been holding back.

Speaking to rediff.com before leaving for Chandigarh, the minister said the government was not keeping a day-to-day tab on investigations in the match-fixing case, but if need be it would ask for a report from the agency.

"Manoj is a complainant and hence cannot be treated like an accused. The agency is giving him time to collect evidence. But if the government finds that he is reluctant to go before the CBI, than it would direct the CBI to go to him. After all he has been clamouring for an inquiry for more then three years now," Dhindsa said.

The minister, however, refused to comment on a case of cheating registered against Prabhakar at Haldwani, near Nainital. "If he has done something wrong, the law will take its course. But the registration of the cases against him does not necessarily mean that he is not telling the truth in other cases," he said.

Sources close to Prabhakar claimed he had been in touch with the CBI. They, however, refused to confirm or deny whether the cricketer recently travelled to Nainital and met the Superintendent of Police Ashish Mehrotra.

When Mehrotra was contacted in Nainital, he denied any such meeting. "There is no pressure on us from any quarter and I can assure you that nobody would able to hush up the case. The investigating officer, however, has requested that the cases (against Prabhakar and some of his associates) be handed over to the Economic Offences Wing," Mehrotra said.

Prabhakar, meanwhile, continued to evade newspersons. A certain Arora received all calls made to his office and promised to call back as soon as the cricketer arrived.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report