rediff.com: Delhi cops seek Cronje tapes from South Africa

The Delhi Police has requested the South African authorities to provide it with tapes of statements by sacked cricket captain Hansie Cronje relating to match-fixing, before the King Commission, even as it awaits the deportation of prime accused Sanjeev Chawla from London.

"We have made a request three to four days back to the South African authorities to provide us the tapes of submissions by Cronje before the commission," Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma told PTI today.

"Though it will have to be seen how relevant the tapes are under Indian laws, it is good to have them in our records for whatever evidential value they have," he said.

On the slow progress in the case and failure of the police to file the chargesheet in court, the commissioner said, "There is a likelihood of the investigation going on for two to three months; may be even more as the investigators are awaiting deportation of London-based businessman Sanjeev Chawla."

"Chawla's passports stand cancelled for over a month now and the government has written to the United Kingdom for his deportation," he said, adding, "we are awaiting his deportation so that we can take him into custody and interrogate him and ask him to join the investigation."

Sharma said Crime Branch officials are investigating whatever information they got about some others involved.

"We are verifying the names and trying to assess whether they have any role to play in the case," the police chief said.

On whether the Delhi Police was probing into the possible involvement of bookie Mukesh Gupta, who, Cronje claimed in his submission before the King Commission, was introduced by Mohammed Azharuddin during a test match in 1996, he said, "Though his (Mukesh Gupta) name did not figure in the Delhi Police's case, his possible involvement in the India-South Africa one-day series is being verified."


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