Chopra examined by Madhavan

India off-spinner Nikhil Chopra was on Tuesday examined for over two hours by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan in Madras.

"Chopra was quite relaxed after spending some time with me, and probably got the feeling that he will get justice," Madhavan said after his meeting with Chopra, adding he will submit his report on the player 'extremely soon'.

Earlier, Chopra, who was given a clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation in its report on match-fixing, arrived for the enquiry at 10.00 a.m. and expressed hope that he would be absolved of any involvement in match-fixing by Madhavan too.

"I am not guilty. By God's grace, I hope I will be cleared," Chopra told reporters before meeting with Madhavan.

Madhavan, who declined to go into details of what Chopra told him, said the player stated nothing that contradicted what had earlier emerged in the CBI's investigation.

"I recorded his statement. He said everything that he wanted to say and handed over certain documents for my perusal. And I also added some questions based on what he had told the CBI itself,' the former CBI official said.

Madhavan said he would first submit his report on Chopra to BCCI president A C Muthiah and resume his enquiry only after returning to Delhi by December 30. He would then examine former Indian cricket captains Ajit Wadekar and Kapil Dev. He said he will complete all aspects of his present assignment with his report by January 31, 2001.

Apart from being questioned on the basis of his statement to CBI, Chopra was given an opportunity to comment on CBI's analysis of his statement, Madhavan said.

Asked whether he was looking for any further information that might have not figured in the earlier enquiry, he said he was not specifically asked to look for new material, but if they were relevant to the probe, they would not be excluded.

"If any new evidence cropped up and if it indicated any culpability, I will convey it to the BCCI," Madhavan said.

Asked to comment on his overall impression of the scandal that he is probing, he said betting is a phenomenon that is likely to continue independent of match-fixing practices. "At least for the present, there will be no involvement of players in such activities," he said.

To a suggestion that no match could be fixed by merely approaching two or three players and leaving out important players, he said it is true of any crime in general that the involvement of a few against whom evidence is available did not mean that they alone are involved.

"That is a grey area in any investigation, but I am not saying that in this particular enquiry there is any such grey area," Madhavan said.

On whether legalising betting is a possible solution, he said it is his personal view, as a law enforcer, that regarding any activity that took place on a large scale and could not be stopped, it would be better to streamline it so that it is within acceptable parameters.

Mail Cricket Editor