CBI cool about Prabhakar's secret tape

Onkar Singh

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday denied it is contemplating action against Manoj Prabhakar for secretly recording his interrogation with the investigating agency during the match-fixing probe.

Former CBI joint director and BCCI vigilance commissioner K Madhavan had told board officials that Prabhakar had submitted a copy of the tape to him but it was of little use to him.

"We are not registering any case against Prabhakar for sneaking into the CBI office with a secret camera. We know that when he came into our office for the third time he had a suitcase with him. We have nothing against him even if he taped the conversation.

"Probably he was tapping his own answers. We would welcome him to release the tape to the people so that the truth is known to everyone," CBI joint director R N Savani told rediff.com.

Prabhakar stalled attempts to talk to him by refusing to take phone calls. His wife pleaded ignorance about his whereabouts. "I don't know where he is," she said.

Meanwhile, the BCCI's decision to defer its announcement of the punishment to be handed down to the tainted players named in the CBI report on match-fixing has raised eyebrows in cricket circles. Senior cricketers feel the board is planning to tone down the quantum of punishment, keeping the players' contribution to Indian cricket in mind.

Sources in the sports ministry confirmed that pressure on the government is mounting from certain individuals, who want to bail out Ajay Jadeja. A recent meeting of Sports Minister Ms Uma Bharti and Defence Minister George Fernandes is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to save Jadeja.

Though there is no official confirmation about the meeting from either Ms Bharti or Fernandes himself, cricket officials are talking about one such meeting. They also allege that another politician is lobbying hard for Jadeja.

Jadeja has consistently denied his involvement in match-fixing. "I may have known people who were bookies but I have never been involved in any match-fixing," Jadeja told the newsmen at a press conference last month, soon after the CBI presented its report to the government.

Ms Jaya Jaitley, president of the Samata party, took up cudgels on behalf of Jadeja soon after income tax officials carried out countrywide raids against cricketers and BCCI officials, by holding a press conference at the defence minister's official residence.

Certain Members of Parliament are demanding strong action against the tainted players and officials in the match-fixing scandal. Some of them want to know how the CBI report was made public.

Former Union Minister of Sports Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa had made the report public as he felt Indian citizens have a right to know what is going on in the game.

Mail Cricket Editor