CBI's Report on Cricket Match Fixing and Related Malpractices (Section 3 - Statements)

After collecting all relevant material/evidence, individual players, ex-players, officials, bookies, punters, and others were examined and they were confronted with the evidence at hand which the CBI had gathered. Thereafter their statements were recorded. It is, however, emphasised at the very outset that the cricketing fraternity, generally speaking, maintained a "conspiracy of silence" and were rarely forthcoming with any specific information relevant to the enquiry. Not a single player/ex-player/official etc., other than those who had made vague and general allegations in the media, volunteered any information to CBI. In spite of the resistance offered by the players, ignorance feigned by ex-players and officials connected with the game, the CBI was able to collect evidence through painstaking and meticulous efforts. Confronted with the evidence gathered, some players/others, in spite of their stubborn denials, broke down and disclosed their involvement in the malpractices in various degrees.

Although a number of bookies, punters, present and past cricket players, board officials and others were examined, the statements of persons who are relevant to the enquiry at this point of time alone are summarised and evidence against individual players/others is discussed in detail.

M.K. Gupta @ MK @ John, a prominent bookie of Delhi, was initially employed with Syndicate Bank as a Clerk from 1982 till 1989 when he resigned. His father was a Government employee in UP and after retirement took up employment with Ghantewala Mithai Shop in Chandni Chowk area. His father is presently assisting him in running his jewellery show room by the name AMS Jewellers at H-81, South Extension, Part-I, New Delhi.

He stated that he got interested in cricket betting in the year 1984 after India had won the World Cup in 1983. One day, he was walking on the street near his residence at Mohalla Dassan and saw some people betting for small amounts in a cricket match and this caught his attention. He started betting with them on a small scale after banking hours. Since the people involved in this business were not well educated and did not have much knowledge of cricket, he started reading about cricket from books, magazines, newspapers, etc. He updated his knowledge by listening to BBC and gathered a lot of information. In this manner, he used to place intelligent bets and he made more money than other people involved in betting. Since he was very prompt in his payments, the bookies also started having trust in him and his volume of betting increased. He shifted his betting activity thereafter to bigger bookies operating at Chandni Chowk, Ghanta Ghar. He was also betting at Karol Bagh and Patel Nagar with one Sikh gentleman whose name he was unable to recollect. Thereafter, he was introduced to one Anand Saxena who was a keen punter in Cricket as well as Tennis, Foot Ball, Hockey, etc. and this introduction was through a bank customer.

By the year 1986, he had made a good amount of money and he thought he should go to Bombay and start betting with the biggest bookies of that time, Mama and Kamate. Their reference was given to him by one R.P. Singh, who was a veteran in the betting field at Delhi. Accordingly, in May 1986, he went to Bombay with the address and telephone numbers of Mama and Kamate and opened his account with them and came back to Delhi. Since he had to give business on a regular basis to Mama and Kamate, he became a bookie on a partnership basis with Anand Saxena in Delhi.

In 1988, he went to watch the Ram Charan Aggarwal Tournament being played at Delhi between different clubs. There he saw Ajay Sharma playing in a particular match in which he made a quick 50 or 100. After that match, he went to Ajay Sharma and paid him an amount of Rs.2,000/- as a token of his appreciation and also told him that if he had any problem in life, he could contact MK and also gave his telephone number. He stated that he did this since he thought Ajay Sharma had talent and it was an investment with the hope that some day he could reap the benefits. After about 15 days, Ajay Sharma got in touch with him again and a relationship between them started. This was to prove beneficial to both.

In the year 1990, India was touring New Zealand and both Ajay Sharma and Manoj Prabhakar were in the team. MK requested Ajay Sharma over telephone from India to introduce Manoj Prabhakar to him and MK talked to Prabhakar from India over telephone. During that tour to New Zealand, he used to regularly ring up Ajay Sharma and gather information about the weather, pitch, team composition, etc., and based on that information, he used to operate his business and made a good amount of money. He does not remember if he had paid any money to Ajay Sharma for this, but said that he may have given him some gifts.

After the New Zealand tour, India was scheduled to tour England, but Ajay Sharma was dropped from the team. MK requested Ajay Sharma to personally introduce Manoj Prabhakar to him, which Ajay Sharma duly did and Prabhakar was paid a sum of Rs.40,000/- to help MK during the England tour. MK also promised him to pay money equivalent to a Maruti Gypsy which Manoj Prabhakar wanted to purchase, if he could provide useful information during the England tour. According to MK, Manoj Prabhakar gave him information about all aspects of the Indian team and he also underperformed in one of the test matches which ended in a draw. After the tour, when the team came back to India, MK fulfilled his promise and paid money to Manoj Prabhakar to buy a Maruti Gypsy with wide tyres. Somewhere around that time, MK also visited Manoj Prabhakar's house in Ghaziabad and had dinner with him. Manoj Prabhakar promised to introduce him to other international players against a payment of Rs.50,000/- each, and after dinner that night, spoke to Gus Logie of West Indies over telephone. However, Gus Logie refused to cooperate in any manner with them.

MK further stated that, sometime thereafter, the Sri Lankan team visited India and Manoj Prabhakar introduced Arvinda D'Silva to him for a price. MK established good rapport with Arvinda D'Silva. Later, MK contacted D'Silva for an introduction to Martin Crowe and D'Silva called Martin Crowe over telephone and told him about MK. Accordingly, MK met Martin Crowe in 1991 in New Zealand and also had lunch in his house. MK added that Martin's wife Simone was also present during the meeting. MK has stated that he paid a sum of $20,000 to Martin Crowe in exchange for information about the pitch, weather, team composition, etc. whenever the New Zealand team played. MK however stated that Martin Crowe refused to fix any matches for him.

Around that period, there was a match between Wills Cup Winners of Pakistan and Wills Cup Winners of India at Feroze Shah Kotla, Delhi. He does not remember the name of the Pakistan team, but remembers that it was captained by Javed Miandad. MK requested Prabhakar to introduce him to Salim Malik, which he did. He thereafter met Salim Malik at Hotel Maurya Sheraton and struck a deal with him to fix that match without the knowledge of Javed Miandad. The Pakistani team lost the match after a close finish and he paid a sum of Rs.8 lakhs to Salim Malik and MK also earned roughly around the same amount. He does not know who were the other players whom Salim Malik had roped in to fix this match.

By now MK realised the importance of having information about weather, pitch, etc., and chose a young boy, Sanjay Sharma, who was living in his locality, and trained him to gather information about the nature of the pitch, team composition, weather, etc. and sent him to England. Sanjay Sharma's job was to gather all relevant information from the local newspapers, TV, etc., and pass on the same to MK. This helped him a great deal in his business.

Somewhere around this period, there were some festival matches in Sri Lanka and many international players were also taking part in it. Manoj Prabhakar was also playing in that series. MK rang up Manoj Prabhakar from India and requested him to introduce some Australian players who were also taking part in that tournament. Manoj Prabhakar rang him back and informed him that all the teams were staying at Hotel Taj Samundra, Colombo and he could introduce Dean Jones to him. MK immediately left for Colombo. Manoj Prabhakar was paid a sum of Rs.2 lacs for this information. MK offered an amount of $40,000 to Dean Jones to give him information about the Australian team's strategy, morale, team composition and about the probable result etc. whenever Australians played. Dean Jones promised to think about the offer. During that series, Manoj Prabhakar also introduced Brian Lara and Ranatunga to MK. However, they were not paid any money. MK came back to India and Manoj Prabhakar also came back with him in the same flight. After returning to India, Dean Jones rang up MK and told him that he could not accept MK's offer since he suspected that Alan Border had seen them talking together in the hotel lobby and if he came to know about this, Dean Jones' career could be in jeopardy.

In a Ranji Trophy Quarter final match between Delhi and Bombay in 1991, Manoj Prabhakar gave MK the information that some of the Delhi players were scheduled to play league cricket in England on dates which clashed with further Ranji Trophy matches, and hence they had decided to lose this match. The Delhi side comprised Kirti Azad, Maninder Singh, Atul Wasson, K.P. Bhasker, Ajay Sharma, Bantu Singh, Prabhakar and others. MK paid some money to Manoj Prabhakar for this information, but he does not know whether this money was shared by him with any of the other players. Delhi lost that match on the basis of first innings lead of one run.

In the year 1992, India played a series in Australia just prior to the World Cup and MK struck a deal with Manoj Prabhakar that some of the matches in that series would be fixed. Manoj allegedly claimed that N.S. Sidhu was also with him in this deal. According to MK, in two one-dayers against Australia, he made good money on the basis of Manoj Prabhakar's information. However, during the World Cup, 1992, MK has stated that he lost a huge amount of money since nothing worked according to his plans. Meanwhile, Manoj Prabhakar had also introduced Mark Waugh to M.K. during a six-a-side cricket tournament in Hongkong. MK paid a sum of $ 20,000 to Mark Waugh in exchange of information regarding team morale, discussions taking place during team meetings, percentage of chances of winning or losing, etc. regarding the Australian team. Manoj Prabhakar was also paid money for arranging this meeting.

In 1993, England team visited India and MK requested Manoj Prabhakar to introduce him to Alec Stewart. He paid a sum of 5000 Pounds to Alec Stewart who agreed to give MK information about weather, wicket, team composition, etc., whenever the English team played. Stewart refused to fix any matches for him. Manoj Prabhakar was also paid some money for arranging this meeting with Alec Stewart. During that series, Manoj Prabhakar claimed that he had fixed two one-day matches played at Gwalior and informed MK. However, his information proved incorrect. India won both the matches and MK suffered a huge loss. However, he recovered some of his losses in the one-day match at Bangalore on the basis of information provided by Manoj Prabhakar. In most of the matches fixed by Manoj Prabhakar, he used to claim that N.S. Sidhu was also with him.

MK stated that during that series, he also met Umpire Piloo Reporter who assured him that he would give his assessment of matches during that series. According to MK, Reporter's assessment of the first test at Calcutta turned out to be true and he paid him a small amount of money.

MK further stated that when Sri Lanka toured India in 1994, Ranatunga and Arvinda D'Silva agreed to underperform in the first test at Lucknow. They also told him that they had not taken other players into confidence but could manage it since they were the Captain and Vice- Captain of the team. Accordingly, Sri Lanka lost the first test and MK made a good deal of money. MK stated that he paid $ 15,000 to D'Silva after the Test. He also stated that both Ranatunga and D'Silva were also ready to fix the other tests, but the 'odds' were very low. MK also had a suspicion that they had fixed the other matches through Manoj Prabhakar with somebody else and hence did not take much interest. Around this time, his relationship with Manoj Prabhakar deteriorated since he had become very money-minded and had also got involved with other bookies of Delhi and Bombay, and even with some big punters.

In 1994 there was a series in Sharjah in which India, Australia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were scheduled to play. Manoj Prabhakar was not in the Indian team. MK went to Sharjah and met Mark Waugh and Salim Malik. Salim Malik refused to "do" any matches for MK since he had become the captain and Mark Waugh also refused any information. MK came back to India a dejected man without any gains.

In 1994, there was another tournament in Sri Lanka, the Singer Cup, in which India, Pakistan and Australia were playing. During that series, MK rang up Salim Malik and requested him to do something for him. Salim Malik gave him an information that Pakistan will lose a particular match against Australia which came out true and he made good money on that.

By the end of 1994, disputes arose between MK and Anand Saxena, his partner, mainly because of Anand Saxena's womanising and also because he had contracted some illness. MK has stated that Anand Saxena had cancer and thought it might be infectious. His relationship with Manoj Prabhakar also reached a stage where MK stopped trusting him. Most of his information had started turning out to be incorrect but his demands for money kept on increasing. MK discontinued his association with both Anand Saxena and Manoj Prabhakar around this time. MK has however stated that Anand Saxena continued his friendship with Manoj Prabhakar since both of them had similar habits. By the end of 1994, Mukesh Gupta stopped book making and became a punter.

Towards the end of 1994, West Indies came to India and MK met Brian Lara again. Brian Lara offered to underperform in two one-day matches and his information proved correct and MK made some money by betting on those matches. MK stated that he gave a sum of around $40,000 to Brian Lara for his information. During his career as a punter, MK was mainly involved with the Bombay bookie Anil Steel who became his close friend.

MK further stated that around this time Ajay Sharma renewed his contacts with MK once again and asked him for a sum of Rs.15,000/- to help him purchase a Zen Car as he was running short of money. During their meeting, MK gave him the money and Ajay Sharma promised him that he could introduce Mohd. Azharuddin to him which could prove beneficial to both. Accordingly, Ajay Sharma fixed a meeting with Azharuddin at Taj Palace in Delhi some time in 1995. Ajay Sharma was paid a sum of Rs.5 lacs for arranging this meeting and Azharuddin agreed to 'do' some matches for him. Azharuddin was paid a sum of Rs.50 lakhs as an advance with the arrangement that the initial amount would be adjusted against the matches he would 'do' for MK. Azharuddin promised MK that he would provide the exact information as to when India would win or lose. He does not remember the exact number of matches which Azhar did for him during this period. MK has stated that he also visited Calcutta during the inaugural Ceremony of World Cup in 1996. There, he was introduced to Asif Iqbal by Anil Steel who was in very good terms with Asif Iqbal.

Sometime in October, 1996, Ajay Sharma contacted MK and told him that in the Australia- India Test match at Delhi, he could get the pitch prepared in such a way that there would be a definite result in that match. Ajay Sharma told him that this could be done through a groundsman of Feroze Shah Kotla. Accordingly, MK met the groundsman of Feroze Shah Kotla along with Ajay Sharma and a result-oriented pitch was prepared. Since the pitch was spinnerfriendly, that particular match ended in around 3 1/2 days and MK made a good amount of money as a punter. MK paid a sum of Rs.3 lakhs to Ajay Sharma after this match.

Around this time, Azharuddin agreed to 'do' some matches for MK in the Titan Cup series. However, some of Azhar's information proved incorrect, and even the agreement that India would lose the final to South Africa did not materialise, and MK and Anil Steel incurred heavy losses and were almost broke. Thereafter, MK went to Sharjah during an ongoing tournament and, through Asif Iqbal, met Jaisurya. But Jaisurya refused to 'do' any matches for MK. After coming back to India, Anil Steel asked MK to meet Azharuddin again and request him to make up for the losses during Titan Cup. Accordingly, MK took Ajay Sharma along with him and went to Hyderabad and met Azharuddin at his residence. During the meeting, Azharuddin promised him that he would make up for the losses during the Titan Cup.

Accordingly, MK went to Ahmedabad during the first test between India and South Africa where he was introduced to Dr. Ali Irani by Azharuddin. Dr. Ali Irani also promised him that Azharuddin would compensate for his losses. Azhar told MK to make future payments to him through Dr. Ali Irani.

According to MK, Azharuddin told him that the Ahmedabad test would not end in a draw, and India won that match and MK recovered around 30% of his losses. In the second test at Calcutta, Azharuddin informed him that India would lose the test and the result was on similar lines, and MK made up around 60% of his losses.

In the third test at Kanpur, MK went to Kanpur and requested Azharuddin to introduce him to Hansie Cronje. Accordingly, Azharuddin introduced him to Hansie Cronje as a diamond merchant, and MK asked Hansie Cronje his opinion about the fate of the test. This was on the third day of the test when the position of South Africa was already precarious. Hansie Cronje told MK that South Africa would lose the test and MK paid a sum of $ 40,000 to Hansie Cronje for this information and as a future investment. Hansie Cronje also asked him to meet him in Bombay for the Mohinder Amarnath benefit match. However, when he met MK at 3 a.m. on the day of the match, Cronje informed MK that he was not in a position to do anything about this match.

Somewhere around this time, Ajay Sharma had introduced Ajay Jadeja also to MK. Both of them had gone to his residence at Defence Colony along with a girl, and Ajay Jadeja offered to "do" some matches for him. When MK asked about other players with whom he could tie up, Ajay Jadeja could promise only Nayan Mongia. MK did not go ahead with this offer. However, Ajay Jadeja was paid a sum of Rs.50,000/- during his visit to MK's residence.

In 1996, during India's tour to South Africa, MK also visited South Africa. Before that tour, MK had paid around Rs.10 lakhs to Azharuddin and also paid a sum of Rs. 5 lacs to Dr. Ali Irani. However, at this point of time, Azhar's predictions were not proving correct and MK thought he should cultivate the South African team. He came back to India between the second and third tests and rang up Hansie Cronje who assured him that South Africa would lose the third test. However, that test was drawn. Sometime during that period, MK had transferred around $ 50,000 to the bank account of Hansie Cronje in South Africa. He went back to South Africa during the one-day series but stated that Hansie Cronje did not gather courage to meet him, since he had misled him about the 3rd test. However, he left a message on his mobile phone that he should forget the past and talk to him. Hansie Cronje rang up MK and apologised and promised him that South Africa would lose some of the one-day matches and he would provide the exact information. MK has stated that all the information provided by Hansie Cronje turned out incorrect and he suffered huge losses. When he spoke to Hansie Cronje about this, Cronje told him that India had played so badly and missed so many chances that he could not do anything about the result.

After coming back to India, Azharuddin promised that he would 'do' some matches for him during the Sahara Cup Tournament at Toronto in 1997. He informed MK that his wife Sangita Bijlani would ring him up and provide necessary information. MK stated that most of Sangita's predictions turned out incorrect and MK got the feeling that the couple were misguiding him. MK thought that either Azharuddin was perhaps involved with some other bookies at that time or he did not have the requisite number of players to fix a match. During his association with Azhar, MK must have paid him around Rs.90 lakhs, which also included the money paid through Dr. Ali Irani. However, a few months after the Sahara Cup 1997, MK asked Azhar to return some of his money since his information had proved useless. He stated that he recovered around 30 lakhs in instalments which he collected from Azhar's locker at Hotel Taj Palace through one Anil Saxena, an employee of Hotel Taj Palace, who was a close friend of Azhar and also from Ajay Sharma who had come to deposit some money in the same locker. MK also revealed that Azharuddin had a permanent locker at Hotel Taj and used to operate it through Anil Saxena, who had the keys.

MK disclosed that Manoj Prabhakar was also in good terms with another punter Tipu Kohli during his association with MK. MK further revealed the name of one Gyan Gupta and his family members and stated that they were also into match fixing. He added that the Pakistan team was very close to a bookie named Hanif Cadbury who was killed some time back in South Africa and most probably they were 'doing' matches for him also.

MK revealed that all payments made by him in foreign exchange were transacted through hawala channels and foreign exchange was obtained from touts operating in Jama Masjid area in Delhi.

MK completely left betting and all other association with book making in May, 1998.

Anil Steel, a bookie of Mumbai, stated that he had started his career as a bookmaker in 1992 and came in touch with Mukesh Kumar Gupta of Delhi sometime in 1994. He stated that M.K. Gupta was very close to Manoj Prabhakar and Azharuddin in the Indian team. Through them, he used to fix matches and accordingly place bets and operate his business. Sometime in 1994-95, when the West Indies team visited India, MK had fixed some one in the West Indies team and both of them made good money during that series. In 1996, M.K. Gupta had fixed some matches through Azharuddin in the Titan Cup but some of the information provided by Azharuddin had proved incorrect and both himself and M.K. lost a lot of money. After this series, he became a defaulter in the market and ran away to Goa since he was unable to pay his customers. MK had told him that he had met Hansie Cronje at Kanpur when the South Africans had visited India. He also stated that MK was very close to Arvinda D'Silva and Ranatunga. Anil Steel admitted that during his dealings with Mukesh Gupta, on two occasions, he had made payments of around Rs.20-25 lacs on MK's behalf to Dr. Ali Irani at Nanawati Hospital, Bombay. MK had told him that the payment was meant for Mohd. Azharuddin for the information provided by him.

Anil Steel also stated that he was introduced to Asif Iqbal by one D.P. Javeri, who is a jeweller at Bombay. This introduction took place sometime in 1995. At present, he and Asif Iqbal are on very friendly terms and when ever Asif Iqbal visits Bombay, he calls on Anil Steel and has on some occasions visited his residence along with his family. Asif Iqbal provides Anil Steel information about the pitch, weather, probable results, etc. in cricket matches throughout the world and Anil has also given some gifts of jewellery items etc. to Asif Iqbal and his family in return for this information. Anil Steel introduced Mukesh Kumar Gupta to Asif Iqbal in 1996 in Calcutta during the World Cup inaugural Ceremony. He had also met Ajay Jadeja in Mukesh Kumar Gupta's hotel room around that time. He lost a heavy amount of money as a result of his association with Mukesh Gupta and stopped contacts with him some time in 1997.

Anand Sagar Saxena @ Chikna, a bookie of Delhi, stated that sometime in 1986-87, he came to know Mukesh Kumar Gupta and became his partner in bookmaking. In the World Cup of 1987, both of them had earned a good amount of money through betting. When asked about his links with Manoj Prabhakar, he stated that he was very friendly with Manoj Prabhakar and he came in touch with him since Anand Saxena's wife runs a Beauty Parlour and Manoj Prabhakar's wife visited that Beauty Parlour and through her, he came in contact with Manoj Prabhakar. On being asked whether he was not in touch with Manoj Prabhakar during the latter's association with MK, he stated that perhaps it was possible that he had met him then, but MK was very secretive about his links with cricket players.

Anand Saxena stated that he was not directly involved with any player and basically used to maintain books for MK and deal with payment of punters, etc. Sometime in 1994, his relationship with Mukesh Kumar Gupta deteriorated leading to an end to their partnership. Manoj Prabhakar is friendly with him even now and some times places bets on cricket matches through him. He is a partner in Hotel 'Pearl' at Mussoorie and Manoj Prabhakar has often availed of his hospitality in Mussoorie. He stated that Manoj Prabhakar was also close to one Tipu Kohli, a punter. According to him, some of the names which figure in the bookie circles with regard to match fixing are Rattan Mehta, Gyan Gupta and his family.

Sanjiv Kohli has a chain of restaurants by the name Moti Mahal in different parts of Delhi. He is a punter and places bets on cricket matches with some of the Delhi bookies, namely, Hans and Deepak and also with Shobhan Mehta of Bombay. He started placing bets on cricket matches in the year 1992 on a small scale and has continued to do so ever since. He knows Manoj Prabhakar from around 1992. He first met him in South Delhi Club and came to know that he was very close to one Anand Saxena who is a well known bookie. Thereafter, their relationship started and he used to meet him in a number of parties off and on. Sanjiv Kohli further stated that as he was a punter, he thought some advance information about cricket matches would be useful for him. As his relationship with Manoj Prabhakar grew, he started asking him for information regarding pitch, weather, etc. He was in touch with him when England visited India in 1993 and subsequently in some other series also. As far as he remembers, he had paid Manoj around Rs.1 lakh to provide information in matches in which he played. On some occasions, he may have given Manoj some gifts, etc. for the information he had provided, but does not remember the details. Sanjiv Kohli started feeling that some of the information provided by Manoj Prabhakar was not correct and therefore stopped having any contacts with him. The last time he met Manoj Prabhakar was when Manoj stood for Parliamentary elections. Manoj had also asked him for some money to finance his election which he refused.

Kohli stated that he had been close to Rattan Mehta for many years, but, around 3-4 years ago, he developed some differences with him during a Sri Lanka-Pakistan match. This was most probably in the year 1997. There was a cricket series in Sri Lanka and Rattan Mehta was also in Sri Lanka. Rattan rang him up one day and informed that he had fixed the Pakistan team and asked him for Rs.25 lacs to pay to them. At that point of time, Sanjiv told Rattan that since Sri Lanka were already the favourites there was no point in fixing the Pakistan team which was anyway expected to lose. Thereafter, Rattan asked him to place bets on his behalf in favour of Sri Lanka winning, but since Pakistan was playing well in that match, Sanjiv did not do so. Pakistan eventually lost the match, and when Rattan Mehta returned to India, he demanded Rs.20 lacs from him to pay up the Pakistan players. Sanjiv, however, told Rattan that he had not made any money on his information so he did not pay Rattan because of which they had a fight. Thereafter, Tipu's contacts with Rattan Mehta ceased.

Sanjiv further stated that he had heard that Rattan was extremely close to the Pakistan team and that he also enjoyed an excellent relationship with Ajay Jadeja.

Ram Adhar @ Choudhary, an employee of DDCA for the past 25-30 years, works as groundsman at Feroze Shah Kotla. Choudhary knows Ajay Sharma very well. In the year 1996, before the India-Australia Test Match at Feroze Shah Kotla, Ajay Sharma contacted him 3-4 days prior to the match and told him to meet him on a particular date at Rajghat. Choudhary went to Rajghat on that particular date and Ajay Sharma was present there along with another person. They made him sit in their car and told him that the pitch for the India-Australia Test should be prepared in such a way that it was result-oriented. Accordingly, he had prepared the pitch and the India-Australia match concluded in just over three and a half days. Choudhary confessed that Ajay Sharma gave him a sum of Rs.50,000/- for this.

Deepak Rajouri, another bookie of Delhi stated that he had been a Cricket Bookie for the past 6 years or so and runs the books along with his younger brother Jyoti Kumar. He knows most of the big bookies of Delhi and Bombay and provided a list of their names.

Rajouri denied that he knew any present or past Indian players. He denied being involved in match fixing. On being asked about other punters/bookies who may be involved in match fixing, he stated that one Rattan Mehta was reportedly involved in match fixing and was also allegedly very close to Ajay Jadeja. From the bookie circles, he came to know that during the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999, Rattan Mehta had advance information that the match would end in a draw. He also stated that one Gyan Chand Gupta, his family, and an associate Ajay Gupta of Delhi were also suspected to be in match fixing and perhaps operated through Azharuddin. They place their bets with one Tinku and Babloo who, in turn, place further bets with Deepak. When the bets placed by Tinku and Babloo exceeded normal limits, he was suspicious that the matches in which they were placing bets were fixed and stopped taking bets from them around 4-5 months ago.

Sanjeev Sacher @ Babloo, another bookie of Delhi stated that he got into cricket betting around 3-4 years ago and for the past 2 years or so he had become a Bookie along with his friend Navin Sachdeva @ Tinku who is his partner. One Ameesh Gupta S/o Gyan Gupta studied in the same school as himself and was on very friendly terms with both himself and Tinku. Ameesh Gupta is also a keen punter and he is the single biggest customer for himself and Tinku. The amount of bets placed by Ameesh Gupta range between Rs.1-10 lakhs depending on the matches. Babloo stated that he further placed bets with bigger bookies of Delhi like Deepak Rajouri, Hans, Amarjeet, Jony, Pankaj etc.

Naveen Sachdeva @ Tinku stated that for the past 2 years or so he has been a part time bookmaker with his friend Sanjeev Sacher @ Babloo. They maintained books mainly for one Ameesh Gupta S/o Gyan Chand Gupta with whom he studied during his school days. It was Ameesh Gupta who encouraged them to become bookies and he is their key customer. He has contacts with other bookies of Delhi including Deepak Rajouri and Amarjeet. On being asked, he stated that he did not personally know Ajay Gupta or Gyan Gupta. He believed that the bets placed by Ameesh Gupta were in their knowledge. He also stated that Ameesh Gupta was most probably in Dubai for the past 2-3 months and when he placed bets, he used cell phone numbers - 98-111-07775 and 98-100-54395.

Jai Bhagwan Gupta stated that Gyan Gupta's brother's wife was his sister. Ajay Gupta, Ameesh Gupta and Gyan Gupta used to place bets through him and he used to place those bets further with Poley and Hans, both bookies of Delhi. On being asked why the aforesaid persons placed bets through him when they could have done directly with some bookie, he stated that he had requested them to do so since he also used to make some money in the bargain.

Nishit Goel stated that one Ajay Gupta is his cousin and both of them own petrol pumps and have been members of the Roshanara Club for the past 8 years or so. He knows one Sanjay Anand who is also a member of Roshanara Club, and through him met Ajay Sharma. Sanjay Anand knew Ajay Sharma since the latter was also an Honorary member of Roshanara Club and used to coach the children of Club members. Ajay Sharma also knows his cousin Ajay Gupta.

In May, 1998, Goel was present during a meeting which took place in Ajay Gupta's office. The others present included Ajay Sharma, Sanjay Anand and perhaps Ameesh Gupta and Gyan Gupta. At that meeting, an offer of Rs.5 lakhs each was made to Ajay Sharma and Sanjay Anand if they could help in getting Azharuddin to fix matches for them. Both of them accepted the offer and promised that they would talk to Azharuddin. However, he claimed no money was paid to them in his presence. But, Sanjay Anand, sometime thereafter, had told him that he was paid Rs. 5 lakhs by Ajay Gupta and party for helping them to rope in Azharuddin. He had also heard that the India-Pakistan one-day match in 1999 at Jaipur was fixed by Ajay Gupta and party through Azhar and they had made good money on that.

Nishit Goel claimed that he himself was a punter and had placed bets with some of the bookies of Delhi, including Surender Mandi. According to him, sometime in July, 1998, there was a series in Sri Lanka and Azharuddin had agreed to lose certain matches as part of a deal with Ajay Gupta and party, but since those matches were won by India, he had heard that Ajay Gupta and party lost a lot of money. Again, sometime in September-October, 1998, Ajay Gupta and Ameesh Gupta had perhaps visited Toronto during the Sahara Cup and tried to fix some matches through Azhar. But again things did not work out and they had lost a lot of money. He had heard that in July, 1999 during the World Cup, Ajay Gupta and Ameesh had visited England.

Nishit Goel further stated that he had heard that an amount of Rs.25 lakhs was paid by Ajay Gupta and party to Azharuddin initially. He was, however, not present during this payment. He was introduced to Azharuddin by Ajay Sharma at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi and thereafter met him once or twice. He accepted that he had made some payments towards Azharuddin's stay in Hotel Taj Palace, Delhi 2-3 times since Ameesh Gupta had asked him to do so. However, he could not satisfactorily explain why he had made those payments and stated that he was very close to Ajay Gupta and Gyan Gupta and he made those payments at their request. As far as he knows, Gyan Chand Gupta, Ajay Gupta and Ameesh Gupta have been punters for the past 3-4 years. They have been placing bets with various bookies of Delhi including Tinku and Babloo and also through one Jai Gupta of Rajouri Garden, who is related to Gyan Gupta.

Ajay Gupta, one of the punters/fixers, stated that he had a number of Petrol Pumps in Delhi and had very close ties with one Gyan Chand Gupta and his family with whom he also had a partnership for exporting of rice to Dubai. He knew Ajay Sharma for quite a few years. He met him at the Roshanara Club since both were members. He met Azharuddin in 1998 through Ajay Sharma for the first time in Hotel Taj Palace, SP Marg. Azharuddin had told him that he had a letter of intent for allotment of petrol pump in the discretionary quota for Bangalore city which he had got way back in 1996 through the then Minister of Petroleum. Since the matter of discretionary quota is under litigation at present, he had asked Ajay Gupta to pursue his case. Thereafter, whenever Azharuddin visited Delhi, Ajay Gupta used to meet him to obtain his autograph, etc. for his children. He completely denied that he was into match fixing or he ever placed bets during cricket matches. He stated that all his cell phone conversation with Azharuddin related to Azharuddin's problem with the petrol pump allotment. He added that he was in England during World Cup, 1999 in connection with the admission of his son and that Ameesh S/o Gyan Chand Gupta had also come there after a holiday in Switzerland. On being asked whether they met Azharuddin and whether Ameesh paid for Azharuddin's shopping at Harrods, he stated that he had no knowledge of the same. On being asked why he had tendered an affidavit at the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) offering to bear the expenditure of Ajay Sharma and his family to travel from India to UK during the World Cup, 1999, he, at first, stated that he did not recollect if he had done so. However, on being shown the said affidavit, he accepted that he had submitted this affidavit to help Ajay Sharma getting a visa for UK. On being asked as to why cell phone no. 98-111-50860 registered in the name of Gyan Chand Gupta's Company remained with Mohd. Azharuddin during cricket matches, he stated that he did not have any idea about the same.

Witness Sanjay Anand stated that he is a member of the Roshanara Club for the last 13-14 years and is involved in sports activities of the Club.

Sanjay Anand accepted that he had been betting on Cricket matches for the last few years with one Chabbra, resident of Ashok Vihar and with one Surinder Mandi. He knew Ajay Gupta, his cousin Nishit Goel and their family members since all of them were also members of Roshanara Club. He also knew Ajay Sharma who was an Honorary member of the Roshanara Club and had coached the children of Club Members.

Sanjay Anand stated that he was introduced to Azharuddin at Hotel Taj Palace sometime in 1996 by Ajay Sharma. He was keen on meeting Azharuddin since he was a cricket fan. Around the same time that he was introduced to Azhar, Ajay Sharma requested him to introduce Ajay Gupta to him since he was keen on approaching Ajay Gupta on behalf of Azharuddin for match fixing. Accordingly, he introduced Ajay Sharma to Ajay Gupta and Nishit Goel, and in that meeting, Ajay Sharma offered that Azharuddin could be of help in fixing matches. However, Ajay Gupta was not keen on the offer since Azharuddin was not the Captain at that time. Sanjay Anand further stated that he also knew that Ajay Gupta and Nishit Goel were also betting on cricket matches with Tinku, Babloo, Surinder Mandi and some other bookies. He stated that on one occasion he got payments for his gift items sold to Ajay Gupta through Babloo and Tinku.

In 1998, there was a meeting in Ajay Gupta's office at the request of Ajay Gupta where Sanjay Anand, Ajay Sharma, Nishit Goel were also present. At that meeting, Ajay Gupta requested him and Ajay Sharma to introduce Azhar to him for fixing matches for which he promised to give him and Ajay Sharma Rs.5 lakhs each. Sanjay stated that sometime after this meeting, Ajay Sharma introduced Azharuddin to Ajay Gupta at Hotel Taj Palace in Delhi, but later Ajay Sharma did not pay him his share of Rs. 5 lacs. When he approached Ajay Sharma for his share, Ajay Sharma told him that he had not received any payment from Ajay Gupta. However, sometime later when he checked with Nishit Goel, he came to know that Ajay Sharma had already been paid for introducing Azharuddin to Ajay Gupta.

Anil Saxena stated that he was previously working as Food & Beverages Manager at Hotel Taj Palace, S.P. Marg and had now been transferred from Delhi to Jaipur recently. He stated that Mohd. Azharuddin used to stay at Hotel Taj Palace whenever he visited Delhi, and over a period of time, they became good friends. He used to do odd jobs for Azharuddin, including picking up his wife from the airport when she came to Delhi.

Azharuddin had two lockers in the hotel when he was posted as Food & Beverages Manager there. On being asked how this was permitted even when Azharuddin was not a guest at Hotel Taj Palace, he stated that this was done under the permission of the GM of the Hotel. Anil Saxena revealed that whenever Azharuddin and Sangita Bijlani came to Delhi, they used to operate these lockers. Otherwise, the keys used to remain with him.

Once Ajay Sharma had come with a sum of Rs.15 lacs some years ago and Anil Saxena had opened the locker and deposited the amount in Azhar's lockers. This cash was in the denomination of Rs.50/- and Rs.100/- notes. Azharuddin had rung him up and directed him to pay around Rs.10 lacs to some person whose name he does not remember now. Thereafter he paid that amount to the person after verifying that Azharuddin had sent him. Sometime immediately after that, Azharuddin and Sangita Bijlani had come to Hotel Taj Palace with Ajay Sharma. He heard Ajay Sharma saying that he wanted some money to buy a flat and Sangita Bijlani took out Rs.5 lacs from the locker and paid Ajay Sharma in Anil Saxena's presence. After this, there were no more transactions in that locker.

Pawan Puri has been running an Interior Decoration firm for the past 20 years and has two offices, one at Greater Kailash-I and one at Parliament Street, New Delhi. He stated that he was fond of betting on horses and cricket matches and had been betting on cricket through bookies, including Anand Saxena, Deepak and Sudesh of Delhi and Shobhan Mehta of Bombay. He is very friendly with Rattan Mehta whom he met around 10 years ago and said that Rattan Mehta was a big time punter, who usually bets around Rs.4-5 lacs in any single cricket match.

Pawan Puri stated that Rattan Mehta was very close to the Pakistan team and to Ajay Jadeja in the Indian team. He recalled an incident which occurred a few years ago in which Tipu Kohli and Rattan fought over a Sri Lanka-Pakistan match. It appeared to him that Rattan Mehta had fixed the Pakistan team to lose and had demanded Rs.25 lacs from Tipu Kohli to pay the Pakistan team which Tipu Kohli refused, and as a result, there was a fight which probably ruined their friendship. He further stated that when Pakistan team visited India sometime back, they were entertained by Rattan Mehta at his 'Mini Mahal' restaurant in Vasant Vihar.

According to Pawan, Rattan Mehta used to frequently ring up Ajay Jadeja on his mobile phone and was always secretive during his conversation with him. Once there was a party at his friend Dimpy's house on 31.10.99 to which both he and Rattan Mehta were also invited. Around 11 pm on that day he picked up Rattan Mehta from his house at Panchsheel Enclave to go to Dimpy's house which is at Sainik Farms. On the way, Rattan Mehta asked him to ring up Shobhan Mehta, a Bombay bookie, and asked him to place a bet to the effect that the ongoing match between India-New Zealand at Ahmedabad would end in a draw. He was surprised as to how Rattan Mehta could anticipate this since New Zealand were in a precarious position on 31.10.99 and very few persons would have anticipated that the match would end in a draw. He dialed Shobhan's number and placed a bet to this effect. Even Shobhan Mehta was sceptical and since he was quite close to him, he advised him not to place this bet. However, he told Shobhan that he was placing bets on somebody else's behalf. On being asked as to why Rattan placed bets with Shobhan through him and not directly, he stated that Rattan does not have an account with Shobhan and hence he had to place this bet through him. At Dimpy's place, Rattan Mehta, after getting drunk, boasted that he had exact information about the outcome of the Ahmedabad Test match and also placed bets with some other bookies, whose names he did not remember.

On another occasion he had met Jadeja when he was flying from Bombay to Delhi. Around that time, a domestic series between India, India 'A' and India 'B' teams had just ended. Ajay Jadeja was the captain of the India 'B' team and he had heard in bookie circles that Ajay Jadeja had agreed to lose matches for India 'B' team at the behest of Rattan Mehta who made around Rs.20 lacs through betting in this series. When he told Ajay Jadeja that Rattan Mehta had made around Rs.20 lacs in that series, Ajay Jadeja told him that Rattan Mehta had told him that he had made only around Rs.1 or 2 lacs and that he would teach Rattan a lesson.

According to Pawan, there were strong rumors that whenever Ajay Jadeja fixed a match through Rattan Mehta, Azharuddin and Nayan Mongia were also parties in such an arrangement.

Rattan Mehta, a big time punter of Delhi, stated that he was into cricket betting since 1990. At present he bets with Hans Kumar Jain, Poley and Vikas Sabharwal - all bookies of Delhi. He stated that he was on very friendly terms with Ajay Jadeja for the past many years. Ajay Jadeja had visited his Restaurant - Mini Mahal on many occasions.

Rattan Mehta claims that he has not fixed any cricket matches through Jadeja, but has however taken his 'judgement' on matches sometimes. He also denies paying any money to Jadeja. According to Rattan, Jadeja had not given him any information during the Challenger Trophy between India, India 'A' and India 'B'.

Rattan Mehta is also on friendly terms with many members of the Pakistan team. He met Javed Miandad sometime in 1994-95. Among the present Pakistan players, he is intimate with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Inzamam-Ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar. According to Rattan, the Pakistan team visited his restaurant when they last toured India in 1999, and he had taken the 'opinion' of Pakistan players on a few occasions. He had also given them 'small gifts'.

Asked about Tipu Kohli's statement that Rattan had fixed Pakistan team in a match during a series in Sri Lanka in 1997, he replied that Tipu Kohli was maligning him since they had a fight over some financial matters. Rattan admitted that on some occasions, he had stayed at the same hotel as the Pakistan team.

Rattan Mehta denied that he had any prior knowledge of India not enforcing the follow-on during the Ahmedabad Test, 1999. He stated that he merely told his friend Pawan Puri to get the 'odds' for a draw from Shobhan Mehta, the Bombay bookie.

Uttam Chand Jain @ Topi, a bookie of Chennai, stated that he was into Garment Export business. Originally, his father used to sell Dhotis and Topis and hence his nick name Topi. He was into book making in cricket matches from 1988 to 1993, and at present, has left book making to become a punter. He places bets with many prominent bookies of Bombay and Delhi including Shobhan Mehta, Anil Steel, Luxmi Chand Thana, Hitesh, Jayant Malad, Kothari, Jaya, Mahadev, Shanti, Kamadi and Vinod Chembur of Bombay and Hans, Poley, Anand Saxena, Sunil, Deepak and Shyam Gurnani of Delhi.

He had met Kapil Dev once, many years ago, at a function organised by some exporter of Madras whose name he does not recollect. He was also present during a card session with Kapil Dev. This was organised by one Hira Lal of Chennai who runs a gambling house from a hotel room at Hotel Adayar Park Sheraton in Madras. Kapil Dev had come there, and besides himself, one Ashok Jain and Raju were also present during the session. He stated that they played rummy and the stakes were not very high. He never met Kapil Dev thereafter nor did he telephonically contact him. He did not think that Kapil Dev knew that he was a cricket bookie.

He denied knowing any other cricket player present or past in the Indian team. However, on being shown the print outs of his cell phone number 98-480-037700 which showed a large number of calls to and from Ajay Jadeja's cell phone number 98-100-34882 just before or during cricket matches, he stated that he met Ajay Jadeja at a function at Chola Sheraton in Madras around 2-3 years ago. During that function, he approached Ajay Jadeja and introduced himself and obtained his cell phone number. He had been regularly ringing him up during cricket matches to get information about the pitch, weather, team composition, probable result, etc. which Jadeja used to provide him. He paid a sum of around Rs. 1 lakh to Jadeja, initially after introduction. Subsequently, he paid a sum of around 5 lacs to him when Jadeja was in Bombay recently during some match. This money was transferred through Hawala channel through one Mool Chand who is in the Hawala racket in Chennai. Mool Chand had passed on this amount through some contact of his at Bombay. Uttam Chand had passed on a code to Ajay Jadeja through which he could receive the cash from Mool Chand's agent in Bombay. He stated that he had not fixed any matches through Jadeja and paid him only for the information he used to provide. He also places bets with one Dilip of Dubai, since he also takes bets on individual score, team score etc. which is not generally done by Indian bookies. He further stated that whenever he won bets with his Dubai contacts, the money was paid through Shobhan Mehta of Bombay since he also deals in Hawala.

Rajesh Kalra, a regular punter of Delhi, bets on cricket matches with bookies including Anand Saxena, Pappu Palika of Delhi and also with one Yasin of Bombay. He personally knew Ajay Jadeja, Nikhil Chopra and Manoj Prabhakar to whom he got introduced to during visits to the Gym at Hotel Park Royal and also the sports club at Siri Fort. According to Kalra, Manoj Prabhakar also placed bets on cricket matches through him, on some occasions for a sum of around Rs.30,000/- to Rs.40,000/-. On being asked whether he had received information through Nikhil Chopra about cricket matches, he stated that once, probably in the India-South Africa one-day match at Nagpur, he had rung up to find out whether Nikhil Chopra was in the team or not. He further stated that he wanted this information since Sanjiv Chawla had asked him to get the same. He also knows Ajay Jadeja very well and has contacted him on telephone on a couple of occasions.

Starting as a small punter in 1985, he became a cricket bookie in 1987-88. He is in touch with bookies and punters of Bombay, Jaipur, Madras, Calcutta and Delhi. He has visited UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Hongkong, Singapore and Thailand. His younger brother Anish also assists him in book making and both of them are always available on telephone during a cricket match. According to him, in 1992, he was threatened by the Amar Naik gang and some time thereafter by Chotta Rajan and then by Chotta Shakeel in 1999. In view of this, he had been provided security by Mumbai Police which has however been withdrawn recently.

On being asked about his involvement with players, if any, he stated that he was purely into book making and had no links with players past or present. He categorically denied that he attended Sachin Tendulkar's wedding, and also stated that he did not know Sachin Tendulkar nor his wife's family. He provided a list of bookies and punters known to him.

Daleep Seth @ Satyam Baba of Mumbai was examined to get an idea of the communication network being used by the betting syndicate. He stated that he had been running a PCO/STD booth with permission from MTNL since 1990 at 142-E, Shop No. 3, Lal Baba Mandir, Buleshwar Road, Mumbai. Initially he had a single line and thereafter continued to add one STD/PCO line every 3 months. He has Group EPABX facility of 200 lines and is allotted a series of telephone numbers - 3777500 to 3777599 and 3777700 to 3777799. He has installed a Mini Exchange also in which he is using 112 lines presently. Out of these 112 lines, 102 lines are being used as outgoing lines which are given to various subscribers and remaining 10 lines are used as incoming lines. He stated that the above said facility had been provided by MTNL. His Group EPABX facility is fully computerised and the subscribers pay the bills as per computer records and in turn he pays the MTNL. MTNL pays him a commission for such an arrangement.

On being asked, he stated that a number of bookies/punters from all over India and even abroad use his facility and in the bookie parlance this facility is called 'Dibba System'. Dibba system is a facility through which the telephone calls of bookies/punters from outside Bombay are connected to his STD/PCO booth and the lines are kept energised throughout the match and the prevailing 'odds' at Bombay are constantly transmitted. Those outside bookies who are connected to Satyam's Mumbai exchange also keep their telephone speakers on broadcasting rates to all the local bookies/punters who keep their local P&T lines energised, and connected with this local 'Dibba'. This way local bookies and punters, cut down on STD telephone costs as they do not have to directly get in touch with Mumbai to obtain 'odds'. If a particular bookie/punter from outside Bombay wants some information confidentially from a Bombay bookie, he can also dial a separate number at Satyam's exchange.

Ajay Sharma, the former Indian player, stated that he first played cricket for Delhi in 1984 when Mohinder Amarnath was the Captain. He played for India for the first time in 1987 and has in all played one Test Match and 33 one-day internationals.

Ajay Sharma played league cricket in Delhi, and in one of the league matches he played for the Sonnet Club in the Ram Charan Aggarwal tournament in the late 1980s, in a ground near Town Hall, Delhi, he scored a century. The spectators watching the match were happy with his performance and surrounded him on his way back to the pavilion. Some people also put some money in his pockets as a gesture. From the ground, he was escorted by his friend Sanjay Bharadwaj and some policemen. One of the persons from the crowd had dropped some money in his front shirt pocket about whom his friend Sanjay Bharadwaj later asked if he recognised that person. On his expressing ignorance about the person, Sanjay Bharadwaj had told him that the man who had put money in his pocket was "M.K. Gupta" , who was involved in betting on cricket matches.

He denied that he provided information regarding weather, pitch etc., to M.K. Gupta during the Indian Team's tour to New Zealand in 1990. But he remembered that 'MK' had rung up his hotel room during the New Zealand tour in 1990 and had talked to Manoj Prabhakar . After the New Zealand tour, Ajay Sharma was dropped from the Indian Team scheduled to tour England and it was during this period that he personally introduced Manoj Prabhakar to M.K. Gupta on the insistence of M.K. Gupta. Thereafter, he lost touch with M.K. Gupta who became close to Manoj Prabhakar.

About the Ranji Trophy Quarter Final match between Mumbai and Delhi held at Delhi in 1991, Ajay Sharma stated that, in that particular year, Bishen Singh Bedi had taken some court order due to which Ranji Trophy matches were delayed and that some of the Delhi players including himself and Manoj Prabhakar, Maninder Singh, Atul Wassan, Bhaskar Pillai, etc., were scheduled to play league cricket in England that year. However, since Ranji Trophy matches were delayed, if Delhi had won that round, the next round would have clashed with league commitments in England. In view of this, the players collectively decided to lose the match against Bombay. Bombay won this match on 1st innings lead of one run.

Ajay Sharma further stated that during 1993-94, he wanted to purchase a Zen Car on which there was a 'black' of Rs.15,000/- and as he did not have the money to pay the 'black', he contacted M.K. Gupta, who paid him the required Rs.15,000/-. Thus, his contacts with M.K. Gupta got renewed.

Sometime around that period, he met Azharuddin in Madras at Hotel Chola Sheraton. Ajay Sharma was in Madras playing the Buchi Babu Tournament. During his meeting with Azharuddin, Azhar asked him if he could get someone to sponsor a fashion-show and charity cricket matches which would cost around Rupees 1 crore . He told Azhar that he would talk to someone whom he knew in Delhi and he approached M.K. Gupta. M.K. Gupta agreed to provide Rs. 1 crore and he arranged a meeting for Azhar with M.K. Gupta in Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi in 1995. For arranging this meeting and introducing Azhar to M.K. Gupta, he was paid Rs. 5 lakhs by M.K. Gupta. Later, after about a month and half, Azhar rang him up and informed that the person he had introduced had paid him the money. Azhar also told him that M.K. Gupta was talking to him about 'making' cricket matches to which he told Azhar that he could consider it. Later, when M.K. Gupta and Azhar met him in Delhi, M.K. Gupta told Azhar that there was no need to pay back the money as it could be adjusted against the cricket matches that would be 'made'.

Ajay Sharma further stated that once he had introduced Azhar to M.K. Gupta, they kept him out from their dealings and he, therefore, could not say specifically which matches they had fixed. However, during the Triangular Titan Cup Series in 1996 in India in which South Africa and Australia were also taking part, some complications arose between Azhar and M.K. Gupta. The latter two had decided to fix matches during the series but the result of one match did not turn out to be as arranged and M.K. Gupta lost a lot of money. M.K. Gupta held him also responsible for his loss as it was he who had introduced Azhar to M.K. Gupta and M.K. asked him to accompany him to Hyderabad just after the series to talk to Azhar regarding the loss suffered by him. He further stated that he travelled with M.K. Gupta to Hyderabad and stayed in a hotel very close to Azhar's house in Banjara Hills. They met Azhar in Hyderabad, and during the meeting, Azhar promised M.K. Gupta that he would make up his loss in the ensuing Test Series against South Africa.

Ajay Sharma also revealed that the other players through whom Azhar operated were Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia. As far as his knowledge goes, Ajay Jadeja, N.S. Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar also operated together. In fact, N.S. Sidhu once showed him a black bag containing a large sum of money and said that this was black money which would be converted into white by showing it as farm income.

Ajay Sharma further stated that during the Australia tour of India in 1996, M.K. Gupta had approached him and asked him if he could have a pitch prepared at the Feroze Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi which would lead to a certain result and for which M.K. promised to reward him and the groundsman suitably. In this connection, he spoke to groundsman Choudhary at Ferozshah Kotla and also arranged his meeting with M.K. Gupta near Rajghat. Choudhary accordingly prepared the desired wicket and a result was obtained in the test match in three and a half days. After that match, Ajay Sharma told M.K. Gupta that he be paid at least Rs.4-5 lacs for getting the wicket prepared as per his instructions, but M.K. Gupta paid him only Rs.3 lacs of which he gave Rs.50,000/- to the groundsman Choudhary and kept the remaining Rs.2.5 lakhs with himself.

Sometime in mid '90s', Ajay Sharma took Ajay Jadeja, along with a tall girl, to M.K. Gupta's house at Defence Colony at around 10.00 p.m. one night. The meeting was arranged at the instance of M.K. Gupta. Jadeja agreed to the meeting in spite of knowing that M.K. Gupta was a cricket bookie. At this meeting, Jadeja offered his services to M.K. Gupta to fix matches but M.K. wanted to know how many other players he could rope in. Not being satisfied with Jadeja's answer , the deal could not come through. However, M.K. Gupta paid Rs. 50,000/- to Jadeja during this meeting. Out of this amount, Jadeja gave Ajay Sharma Rs.18,000/- and kept Rs.32,000/- for himself saying that he wanted to buy a cellular phone which at that time cost around Rs. 32,000/-.

Ajay Sharma admitted that he knew Ajay Gupta, Ameesh Gupta and Gyan Chand Gupta and that he had introduced Ajay Gupta to Azhar. He was a regular visitor to Roshanara Club in Delhi where one Sanjay Anand who was involved in The Management of the Club was well known to him. Sanjay Anand once approached him and told him that he had heard that cricket matches were being fixed and a lot of money was being made, that he had a party with him who could invest money and requested him to introduce Azharuddin to this party. Sanjay Anand probably approached him to introduce Azhar to the party as it was common knowledge that he was very close to Azhar. Sanjay Anand first introduced Ajay Sharma to Ajay Gupta. However, nothing came out of this meeting as Azhar was not the captain of the team at that time and Ajay Gupta said that nothing was possible unless Azhar became the Captain.

In 1998, when Azhar was the Captain, Ajay Gupta asked Sanjay Anand to talk to him to introduce Ajay Gupta to Azharuddin. Accordingly, he talked to Azhar who agreed to meet Ajay Gupta and he arranged the meeting at Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi, where an understanding to fix matches was reached. For arranging this meeting, Ajay Gupta gave Rs.5 lakhs each to him and to Sanjay Anand. Sanjay Anand picked up this money from the office of Ajay Gupta. Ajay Gupta later introduced Ameesh Gupta, S/o Gyan Chand Gupta to Azhar. Azhar was also given a mobile phone no. 98 111 50860 by the 'Guptas' for his use. He also stated that he knew through Sanjay Anand that all the three Guptas named earlier placed heavy bets with bookies during cricket matches. On being asked about the recent telephone calls made to Azhar just before or on the day of the matches, he stated that during these calls he used to wish Azhar "All the Best" and also asked him if he had spoken to the Guptas.

On being asked about one Anil Saxena of the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi, Ajay Sharma stated that he was very close to Azhar and that he also used to keep Azhar's money in the lockers in Taj Palace Hotel. On one occasion, on the instructions of Azhar, he had deposited Rs.15 lacs in the locker through Saxena in Taj Palace Hotel. He had received this money from Ajay Gupta on behalf of Azhar.

During the 1999 World Cup in England, Ajay Sharma had requested Ajay Gupta to fund him and his family to visit UK. Accordingly, Ajay Gupta arranged for his and his family's visit to England during World Cup 1999. Ajay Gupta also gave an affidavit in May, 1999 in his office at Central Warehousing Corporation that Ajay Gupta would meet all his expenditure during his visit to the UK as Ajay Sharma could not have shown such an expenditure, being a Government Servant.

On being asked as to whom the Opel Astra Car and mobile phone which were snatched from him in Gurgaon in January, 2000 belonged to, Ajay Sharma stated that the car belonged to Divya Nautiyal of Apace Finance Company and mobile phone was that of Ajay Gupta who had given it to him for his own use. He knows Divya Nautiyal for a very long time as they had played cricket together. He had invested around Rs.5 lakhs with Divya Nautiyal of which he had been paid back only Rs.1.5 lakhs and the rest of the payment was stuck as the finance company was in trouble. He stated that Mohd. Azharuddin did not know Divya Nautiyal and both of them did not have any financial dealings also.

According to Ajay Sharma, Nikhil Chopra had once approached him and asked him whether he knew some bookies who took bets on cricket matches, as Nikhil's 'Sala' (brother-in-law) was interested in betting.

About the alleged offer made to him by Kapil Dev during the Singer Cup, 1994 in Sri Lanka, Manoj Prabhakar stated that, during the Singer Cup, he and Navjyot Singh Sidhu were room-mates in the hotel where the team was staying. The adjoining room in the hotel was connected to Manoj Prabhakar's room through a common door, and was occupied by Prashant Vaidhya and Nayan Mongia.

One day, when he was in the bath room, N.S. Sidhu called him and told him that 'Paaji' had come with some offer and wanted to talk to him. Thereafter, Kapil Dev told him that India had to lose the next match against Pakistan and Manoj Prabhakar will be paid Rs.25 lacs to underperform in that match. Manoj Prabhakar stated that he was flabbergasted at this offer and shouted at Kapil Dev. N.S. Sidhu was also present in the room at that time. Thereafter, Prashant Vaidhya and a Bengali journalist, who was sitting in Prashant Vaidhya's room, came to Prabhakar's room on hearing the commotion and asked him what had happened. Manoj Prabhakar told Prashant Vaidhya that Kapil Dev had offered him money to underperform. After this incident, he reported the matter to Ajit Wadekar, Manager of the team and also to Mohd. Azharuddin, the Captain of the team. He also informed Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar who were doing commentary during that series, after a few days. On being asked whether Kapil Dev made this offer to some of the other players in the team also, Prabhakar stated that he had no proof to corroborate this. On being asked why he did not disclose these facts before the Justice Chandrachud Commission, he stated that he wanted to disclose everything but Justice Chandrachud told him that he would not record anything which he would disclose and hence did not see any point in mentioning Kapil Dev's offer to him.

About his slow batting in the Kanpur One-Dayer against West Indies in 1994, Manoj stated that when Nayan Mongia came to bat, he told him that there were instructions from the dressing room that both of them should bat carefully and not lose their wickets. Nayan Mongia, till date, has not told him as to who was the person who had given him these instructions.

According to Manoj, one Hiren Hathi is very close to Kapil Dev and operates as his agent. Also, Kapil Dev was a gambler and played cards for very high stakes. Similarly, Ajay Sharma is very close to Mohd. Azharuddin and acts as his agent.

There was an incident in which the late Raman Lamba placed a bet of Rs.50,000/- in Prabhakar's name without his knowledge in a particular match. The opposition was batting second and he was bowling the last ball of the match with one wicket to go and one run to win. Prabhakar got the last man out and won the game for India. Thereafter, he received a telephone call from an unknown person who claimed himself to be a bookie and threatened him and told him that he had lost around Rs.85 lakhs.

Once, when Manoj was in the BCCI office in Bombay, one Prakash Kelkar introduced him to an unknown person. The latter requested Manoj Prabhakar to introduce him to some of the Indian players playing at that point of time in New Zealand. When asked about the purpose, that person revealed that he had lost a lot of money and had to make up for it by fixing certain matches through some Indian players. According to Prabhakar, he did not believe this man, whereupon the latter told him that he would ring up Ajit Wadekar and Mohd. Azharuddin and that Manoj Prabhakar could listen to the conversation on a parallel line. Thereafter, that person allegedly rang up Ajit Wadekar and Mohd. Azharuddin. To his shock, Manoj Prabhakar heard that both of them had a positive attitude towards fixing matches. Manoj Prabhakar alleged that this particular person had informed the team management that Manoj Prabhakar knew all about their activities and, from then on, he was harassed continuously by cricket authorities.

On being asked about his mobile phone print-out which disclosed a number of calls to known bookies/punters including Sanjiv Chawla, Rajesh Kalra Sunil Dara, Rattan Mehta, etc., Manoj Prabhakar stated that he had contacted them for the purpose of investigating match fixing allegations. He further stated that he knew Sanjiv Chawla since he visited the Gym at Hotel Park Royal and he was looking for an overseas partner for his cosmetics business and the telephone calls in his cell phone were in that connection. Rajesh Kalra is his friend and prints brochures for his cosmetic's business. He further stated that he also knew Sunil Dara who used to frequent the gym at Hotel Park Royal and, once or twice, he had asked Prabhakar about the outcome of cricket matches and he had given his opinion to Sunil Dara. He admitted that he knew Anand Saxena very well and had attended a few parties with him. Anand Saxena, on some occasions, had asked him to introduce cricket players to him but he had refused.

Manoj Prabhakar admitted that he was introduced to M.K. Gupta by Ajay Sharma sometime in 1990 and he knew him as John and not as Mukesh Gupta. He stated that he had met Mukesh Gupta 5-6 times only but used to speak to him on the telephone. He further stated that he had seen Mukesh Gupta abroad also. He confessed that he had received money once or twice for providing information about matches to MK and that he used to receive only around Rs.25,000/- to Rs.30,000/- for each piece of information. He was paid only when his information was of use to MK. On being asked whether MK had given him money to buy a Maruti Gypsy with wide tyres after the England tour in 1990, he stated that he had purchased a Gypsy with wide tyres after the England tour but he himself had paid for it. Manoj denied introducing Dean Jones to MK. He further stated that after a festival match in Sri Lanka in early 1990s, he was in the same flight as MK. But they had booked their tickets separately and this was purely accidental. He denied that MK had ever visited his house at Ghaziabad. Manoj admitted having made a phone call to Gus Logie at MK's request, but Logie had refused to do anything for MK. He accepted that he introduced Mark Waugh to MK in Hongkong during a six-a-side tournament. He also admitted introducing Brian Lara, Salim Malik and Alec Stewart to MK. He denied that he introduced Arvinda D'Silva and Ranatunga to MK. He stated that for these introductions, he had received money only once or twice. MK used to pay him only when his introduction to foreign players resulted in a profitable relationship. He stated that MK used to pay him money through one of his servants.

Prabhakar confessed that in the Ranji Trophy Quarter Final match of 1991 between Delhi and Bombay, he had given information to MK that Delhi would lose this match since some of the Delhi players were scheduled to play league cricket in England which was clashing with further Ranji Trophy engagements. However, he has denied receiving money from MK for this information. He was very friendly with Tipu Kohli (a punter) and he used to call him up to get his opinion and information about cricket matches. Prabhakar also said that he knew one Mashaal, a bookie of Bombay.

Joining the State Bank of India as a Clerk in 1983, Mohd. Azharuddin got quick promotions because of his cricket. He is at present a Scale- IV officer, working as Chief Manager and PRO, State Bank of India, Hyderabad.

Azharuddin admits his very close relationship with Ajay Sharma, and the intimacy developed since both of them used to be room-mates when ever they played. On being confronted with telephone print-outs of Ajay Sharma which disclose contacts only just before or during cricket matches, he stated that Ajay Sharma had always been his well-wisher for many years and he also used to bring him bats during matches since it brought him good luck.

Azharuddin admitted on further questioning that he was first introduced to M.K. Gupta @ MK by Ajay Sharma sometime in 1995, at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi. Ajay Sharma and MK had been approaching him to underperform in some matches for a consideration. Mukesh Gupta had offered him a sum of Rs.1.25 crores, but the deal did not materialise. He accepted that he had taken money on some occasions from MK but did not underperform in most of the matches in which he had taken money. He stated that the Titan Cup match between India and South Africa at Rajkot in 1996 was fixed through Mukesh Gupta, and revealed that Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were also involved along with him. A match in Pepsi Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in 1997 was also fixed through MK. He accepted that he had introduced Mukesh Kumar Gupta to Hansie Cronje at Kanpur in 1996.

On being asked about Ajay Gupta and Ameesh Gupta whose cell phone numbers figured frequently in his telephone print-out, he stated that he had met Ajay Gupta and his associates sometime in 1998 through Ajay Sharma. He had a letter of intent for a petrol pump issued by the Ministry of Petroleum in 1996 which was under litigation and wanted to seek Ajay Gupta's help. On being asked whether Ameesh Gupta s/o Gyan Chand Gupta paid for his shopping at Harrods in London in 1999 during the World Cup, he stated that he had made some purchases and Ameesh Gupta had paid for the same. On further questioning, he accepted that Ajay Gupta and his associates had approached him sometime to fix matches. He does not remember how much money he had received from them. The Pepsi Cup match between India and Pakistan at Jaipur in 1999 was fixed through them and Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were also involved with him in the deal. He was paid around Rs.10 lacs after that match by some unknown person on behalf of Guptas. Azhar admitted that Ameesh Gupta had given him mobile phone - 98-111-50860 - through which he used to contact him during matches.

On being asked whether he had met Dawood Ibrahim, he stated that he had seen him a few times in Sharjah where Dawood Ibrahim used to be present during cricket matches. He denied having any telephonic conversation with him. On being asked whether he had spoken to Abu Salem, he stated that Abu Salem had rung him up on a couple of occasions and requested him to fix some matches but he had refused.

On being asked about Hamid Banjo Cassim of South Africa, Azhar accepted that he had met him whenever he visited South Africa. On being asked about Pappu Bhutani, he stated that he knew him but he had not purchased any expensive watch from him. Azhar also stated that he presented a Rolex watch costing around Rs.75,000/- to Ajit Wadekar as a token of appreciation since Ajit Wadekar always used to guide him when he was the Coach of Indian team. On being asked about the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar in Singer Cup, 1994, he stated that Manoj Prabhakar never informed him about this alleged offer and he came to know of this only through newspapers recently. About the India-West Indies one-day match at Kanpur in 1994 where Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia had batted slowly, he stated that there were no instructions from the dressing room that they should bat slowly and he could not comprehend the reasons behind such tactics.

Dr. Ali Irani, Physiotherapist of Indian Cricket team, stated that he had been with the Indian Cricket team from 1987 to 1997, except for a gap of around 6 months in between. According to him, it was in 1994, in the India - West Indies one-day international at Kanpur, that everybody, for the first time, felt that something was wrong. In that match, Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia did not chase the target and just played out the remaining balls. According to Dr. Irani, it looked as if they were batting to play out the balls rather than winning the match, and it was also peculiar that Ajit Wadekar who was the coach of the team and who should have been watching the match and passing necessary instructions, was sitting in the dressing-room unmindful of what was happening on the ground. Dr. Irani further stated that people were so upset that one of the selectors, G. R.Vishwanath, even came to the dressing room and shouted at Wadekar asking him whether he knew what was going on and whether he had passed on any instructions. After the match was over, when Manoj Prabhakar came to the dressing room, he said that Nayan Mongia had asked him to play out the remaining balls as that was the instruction from the dressing room. When Nayan Mongia was asked about it, he said that he had been told to say so but who had told him to say so, he could not explain. That evening, when the team was returning after dinner in a bus, Manoj Prabhakar was abusing Wadekar and Azhar probably because he knew that a decision to drop him and Nayan Mongia for the next two matches had been taken.

Dr. Irani also stated that certain undesirable characters were gaining entry into the dressing room. There was an instance of team members, specially from the South, in a Test Match against Sri Lanka in 1997 strongly objecting to the presence of Ajay Sharma, a former Indian player, in the dressing room. Dr. Irani further stated that he also saw Ajay Sharma in Chandigarh when the Indian Team was playing there. Ajay Sharma had brought some bats for Azharuddin, but, during that match, Azhar was down with fever and he could not play, so he left the place with Ajay Sharma. It was well known that Ajay Sharma was very close to Azhar.

Another instance where Dr. Irani suspected the match was deliberately lost was in the West Indies in 1997. The Indian team had to make only a few runs, but in spite of a number of wickets in hand, they could not make them and the manner in which the team played raised suspicion. After the match, some of the boys blamed the loss due to "a silly excuse" like "Voodoo" being practiced by some locals on the field.

Dr. Irani categorically stated that he was not aware of the alleged offer of Rs. 25 lakhs made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar to underperform in Sri Lanka till the controversy appeared in the media a couple of years back. He could not say whether the allegation was correct.

Dr. Irani further stated that in the Indian Team, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar were good friends and so were Azhar and Ajay Jadeja and Sidhu and Manoj Prabhakar. Initially, Ajay Jadeja was also very close to Manoj Prabhakar. Dr. Irani had often seen Azhar and Ajay Jadeja talking in hushed tones and very often he had doubted that their conversation related to some 'hanky - panky' in the matches.

Dr. Ali Irani denied knowing any person by the name M.K. Gupta. However, on being shown a photograph of M.K. Gupta, he stated that this person had been introduced to him by Azhar as 'John' and not as 'M.K. Gupta', in a test match in Ahmedabad in 1996. Later, when Azhar became closer to Dr. Irani, he opened up and asked him to collect money on his behalf. Dr. Irani told Azhar that he could not collect money on his behalf, but if someone gave money for Azhar through him in his room he would tell Azhar. Azhar then told him that 'John' would give him money and then this person 'John' and his representative (a guy from Bombay) gave him money for Azhar on a number of occasions. Azhar would ring him or tell him in advance that John would be sending money.

Dr. Irani, however, stated that he could not say how much money had been transferred by John to Azhar, but each transaction was in lakhs and some transactions were as high as Rs.10 to 15 lakhs. For rendering this service Azhar used to pay Dr. Irani anywhere from Rs.25,000/- to Rs.50,000/- on each occasion. Dr. Irani further stated that although he was a conduit for transfer of money from John to Azhar, he did on each occasion tell Azhar that what he was doing was not correct. However, his greed to be with the Indian Team as a physiotherapist got the better of him.

On being asked as to which other players were involved with Azhar, Dr. Irani stated that he thought that Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar were also involved with Azhar in this matter. He further stated that he had absolutely no doubt about the involvement of Ajay Jadeja with Azhar as, in 1996, during a one day match, Ajay Jadeja told him not to talk about 'such things' as he was no longer into it. Dr. Irani suspected that he said this to him since Ajay knew by that time that Azhar had confided in him as to what was happening. Dr. Irani further stated that the bookies normally approached the players individually and that often two players would not even realise that they had been approached by the same bookie.

Dr. Irani further stated that if one studied the body language of the players after a match, then, at times, one could realise that a particular player was involved in match fixing. There have been occasions even when the Indian team had won, some players were not happy after the match. In fact, in a match against Pakistan during the 'Independence Cup', the Indian team had won, but when the camera focussed on Azhar, he did not appear happy. Noticing this, the camera focussed on him for a considerable time.

Dr. Irani further stated that, during the later stages, his relationship with Azhar had come under strain because the latter objected to his association with Sangeeta Bijlani. Dr. Irani further stated that often one could tell from the reaction of the players in the team meeting, prior to the match, about their performance. He said this was especially true in the case of Manoj Prabhakar and N.S. Sidhu. Whenever they spoke a lot in the team meeting, he knew that they were not going to perform well in the next match.

Dr. Irani stated that he had never heard anything adverse regarding Tendulkar. In fact, in most of matches where fixing was taking place, the clue was that the game would be 'on' only when Tendulkar got 'out' because he was one player who could single-handedly win the match and upset any calculation.

On being asked about the involvement of underworld in match fixing and betting specially with reference to the involvement of Sharad Shetty, Dr. Irani stated that although he did not have any knowledge, once Azhar had told him that as he was doing matches with Anees Ibrahim, he could not do with anyone else.

Ajay Jadeja stated that he knew Rajesh Kalra and Kishan Kumar since they regularly come to the gym at Hotel Park Royal which is also frequented by Jadeja. He denied any knowledge about their being punters. On being asked about Rattan Mehta, who also figures prominently in his cell phone print outs, he stated that Rattan Mehta was a very good friend and had known him for the past many years. He also stated that he had gone to his restaurant many times and maintained close contacts with Rattan Mehta. When asked whether he knew that Rattan Mehta was also involved in betting and match fixing, he stated that he had no knowledge of such activities and also never bothered to find out. On being asked whether he knew that Rattan Mehta's sister Mona Mehta was arrested for betting on cricket matches during World Cup, 1999 by Delhi Police, he stated that he had not heard of such an incident. On being asked whether he knew Mukesh Kumar Gupta @ MK, he stated that he had never met him but all that he knew was that MK stayed next to Nikhil Chopra's house in Defence Colony. He also denied that he went to MK's house at Defence colony along with a girl and Ajay Sharma some time in 1996. He, however, stated that since he met so many people he cannot remember all of them. He stated that he did not remember whether he received Rs.50,000/- from MK. On being asked whether he was involved in match fixing with Mohd. Azharuddin, he denied the same.

On being asked whether he knew Uttam Chand, a bookie/punter of Chennai, he stated that he did not know him. On being confronted with Uttam Chand's Cell phone printout, which disclosed very frequent telephonic contact between both of them just before or during cricket matches, he stated that he recognised Uttam Chand's cell phone number but knew him as 'Gupta'. He did not know how Uttam Chand got his telephone number. Jadeja stated that Uttam Chand used to ring him up often and tell him that he is his fan and if he did not talk to him, he would run into bad luck and because of superstition, he used to return his call. On being asked whether he knew that Uttam Chand was a bookie, he stated that he had an inkling to that effect due to the nature of conversation Uttam Chand used to have with him. On being asked why he did not discontinue his association with Uttam Chand after that, he stated that he could not explain this. Ajay Jadeja also denied that he provided any information to Uttam Chand about cricket matches and denied receiving any money from Uttam Chand. Finally, on being asked about his association with persons like Rajesh Kalra, Kishan Kumar, Rattan Mehta and Uttam Chand who are all bookies/punters, Jadeja stated that he did not want to discuss these things. He merely said that he had made certain mistakes in his career and was ready to pay the price for it.

Nikhil Chopra, member of the Indian team, stated that he had absolutely no idea of match fixing or related malpractices. He also did not have any idea of any Indian players being involved in such malpractices. On being asked about Rajesh Kalra's call in his cell phone print out, he stated that he knew Rajesh Kalra since both of them used the gym at Hotel Park Royal. On being asked about the details of his conversations over telephone with Rajesh Kalra, he stated that he did not recollect the same. On being asked about a call received on his cell phone from Sanjiv Chawla's mobile, he stated that he did not know Sanjiv Chawla and did not know how his number had figured in his telephone print-out. On being asked about a call made to Rattan Mehta from his Cell phone, he stated that he did not know Rattan Mehta and did not remember whether he made such a call. He stated that he had seen Rattan Mehta just once when he was sitting in a hotel with his brother and his brother had pointed out Rattan Mehta and told him that he was the owner of Hotel Mini Mahal in Vasant Vihar.

About Kapil Dev's alleged offer to Manoj Prabhakar during the Singer Cup, 1994, Nayan Mongia stated that he was occupying the room adjoining Manoj Prabhakar's room during that tour. His room-mate was Prashant Vaidhya. He never heard any shouting or commotion as a sequel to this alleged offer. He does not recollect any journalist sitting in his room when the alleged offer was made. He heard about this alleged incident for the first time when Shri I.S. Bindra made those allegations on TV. His room-mate Prashant Vaidhya also never mentioned anything to him.

Mongia stated that he had never been approached by any player, explayer or bookie to underperform for a consideration. About his slow batting in Kanpur against West Indies in 1994, he stated that there was some discussion in the dressing room that no further wickets should be lost and he had passed on the same instructions to Manoj Prabhakar. On being asked as to who had given those instructions to him, he could not give a satisfactory answer and stated that there was some general talk in the dressing room. He denied having ever placed bets in England during a match not involving India. He also denied that he was involved with Mohd. Azharuddin in fixing matches. He stated that he had not received any money from Azharuddin or Ajay Sharma. He further stated that he had no knowledge of any match in the Titan Cup Series, 1996 or the Pepsi Cup Series in 1999 having been fixed by Azharuddin. He denied that he had ever been offered money by a bookie to underperform.

About the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar during the Singer Cup in 1994, Navjyot Sindhu stated that he and Manoj Prabhakar were room-mates during that tour. Sometime on that tour, Manoj Prabhakar, during a casual conversation, had told him that he had been offered money by a player without disclosing the name of the player. According to Sidhu, Manoj Prabhakar did not mention the time, place or the purpose of the above said offer.

Sidhu does not remember whether Kapil Dev had come to their room just before Prabhakar had told him about this offer of money. When Manoj Prabhakar informed him about it, he was absolutely sure that nobody else was present in the room. According to him, neither Prashant Vaidhya nor anybody else had come to their room when Manoj Prabhakar had told him about the alleged offer. During his further examination, N.S. Sidhu accepted that Manoj Prabhakar had told him in the first instance itself that the player who allegedly offered him money was Kapil Dev but categorically denied that the alleged offer was made in his presence.

Sidhu also denied that he was into match fixing along with Manoj Prabhakar and stated that he had never underperformed for a consideration at any time during his cricket career.

Ajit Wadekar, former Indian Captain and Manager, stated that during his tenure as Manager of Indian Cricket Team, he did not come across any instance or information which hinted at match fixing, betting or involvement of Indian players in it. He further stated that although there were some instances such as Kapil Dev not running out Peter Kirsten in the 1992 "Good Will Tour" of the Indian team to South Africa in spite of his repeatedly leaving the crease before the ball was delivered and in spite of him telling Kapil to run Kirsten out a number of times after warning, Kapil did not do so. This appeared odd now but he had thought that Kapil really wanted to have good relations with South Africa.

Other such instances which he recalled were that of R. Mohan, Sports Editor of 'Hindu' who was in the dressing room with a cell phone and he had to ask him to leave the dressing room as he was causing disturbance, and Nayan Mongia playing extremely slowly in the One Day International match against West Indies at Kanpur. Ajit Wadekar further stated that three of them, i.e., himself, Captain Azhar and Chairman of the Selection Committee - Viswanath, decided to penalise both Nayan and Manoj by dropping them for the next two matches on the ground that they appeared to have played slow to improve their average. He further stated that although all these instances did appear to be odd, he could not say that they were deliberate acts on the part of the players because of consideration of match-fixing and betting.

He further stated that during his tenure as Manager of the Indian cricket team, he did feel that the players were not focussed on the game and he had, therefore, formulated a code of conduct for Indian players in the tests against England and Zimbabwe.

About the allegation of Manoj Prabhakar that in the series in Sri Lanka some senior player of the team (Kapil Dev) had offered Manoj Prabhakar 25 lakhs rupees to underperform and that he had informed him of the same, Ajit Wadekar stated that what Manoj Prabhakar had said were total lies. Had any such information been given to him at that time, it would certainly have been reflected in his tour report. He totally denied that Manoj Prabhakar had given him any information about the alleged offer of money to him by Kapil Dev to underperform.

He played for India for the first time during the Singer Cup, 1994 in Sri Lanka. In that tour, Nayan Mongia was his room-mate and the adjoining room was occupied by Manoj Prabhakar and N.S. Sidhu. About the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev to Manoj Prabhakar during that tour, Prashant categorically stated that he did not have any knowledge of any such incident taking place during that tour. He stated that he had not gone to Manoj Prabhakar's room as a sequel to the commotion arising out of the alleged offer. He said that it may be possible that some journalist may have been sitting in his room during that tour since he was quite friendly with Mr. Sakhya Sen Mitra, a journalist from Calcutta. He also stated that Kapil Dev and other players had been visiting each other's room quite often and there was a possibility of Kapil Dev having visited his room while Mr. Sakhya Sen Mitra was also present. He came to know of Kapil Dev's name in this connection only when Mr. I.S. Bindra had given a statement to this effect in the media.

Ravi Shastri, former Indian Cricketer, stated that Manoj Prabhakar first told him about the alleged offer made by Kapil Dev sometime during the Singer Cup Series in 1994. He was in Sri Lanka during that series as a Commentator and Prabhakar had approached him about 4-5 days after the alleged offer was made and told him that Kapil Dev had offered him money to underperform in the India-Pakistan match. Ravi Shastri stated that he did not believe Manoj Prabhakar. However, he instructed him to tell the Team Management about this. On being asked for his opinion whether Kapil Dev could have made such an offer, Ravi Shastri stated that he had played with Kapil Dev for a number of years during his cricketing career and did not think that Kapil Dev could have made such an offer. On being asked as to what could have motivated Prabhakar to make such an allegation, he stated that it was a well known fact in the Indian team that Manoj Prabhakar and Kapil Dev did not get along very well.

Kapil Dev, former Indian Captain and former Coach, when asked about the land acquired by him for a Society at Village Roza Ka Gujjar, District Gurgaon, stated that this land was purchased through one Kewal Joshi since it was a very attractive proposition as the price was very low and that he had offered many cricketers/ex cricketers/officials plots so that it could be built up as a sort of Cricketers' Colony. He had met the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon quite a few times to get the land demarcated properly, but till now it could not be managed.

Kapil admitted having received a BMW Car gifted to him during South Africa tour of 1992 by one Ibrahim, owner of 'Auto City' auto-garage in South Africa. This was gifted to him after he had taken 400 wickets in the previous series at Australia. Ibrahim had offered him the car in return for his agreeing to model for his garage. Like all cricketers, he also thought that it was quite a good bargain and accepted the car and agreed to model for Ibrahim's Company. The car was brought to India after completing all necessary formalities with the Ministry of Finance. Kapil Dev also admitted that he knew Hamid Banjo Cassim of South Africa very well. He stated that Cassim was known as Hamid Mamu to Indian players and was very helpful to Indian players whenever India toured South Africa.

About the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999 where India did not enforce the follow-on, he stated that this decision was taken in consultation with the Captain, Vice-Captain and other senior players. One day prior to the decision, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the follow-on should be enforced. At the end of play on the third day, there was no team meeting on the strategy for the next day. Somewhere during lunch time on the 4th day, the bowlers, especially Srinath, complained that they were very tired and India should bat again and score quick runs and make New Zealand bat thereafter. On being told that the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew about the decision not to enforce follow-on 31.10.99 night, Kapil stated that no decision to this effect was taken on the 31st and hence it was very surprising. On being asked whether somebody could have subconsciously influenced this decision on the next day, he stated that it could not be ruled out. He could not remember as to who could have done it.

About Ajay Jadeja, Kapil stated that he was extremely close to him and was like a son to him. On being told that Ajay Jadeja was in touch with a number of bookies and how Kapil never realised this, he stated that he had known about Jadeja's friendship with certain dubious persons and felt that his choice of friends was not always as it should be.

On being asked, specifically, whether he knew Uttam Chand, a bookie of Madras, he stated that he did not know any person by the name Uttam Chand, and upon being told that he had once played cards with him at Hotel Adyar Park Sheraton, Madras, he stated that he used to have card sessions in the company of Bharat Reddy, the ex- Wicket-Keeper and may have played cards when generally many other people were also present in those sessions. He accepted that he was very fond of playing cards.

About his alleged offer to Manoj Prabhakar during Singer Cup, 1994, Kapil stated that he did not make any such offer. All the while when Manoj Prabhakar made those allegations, Kapil thought he was talking about Mohd. Azharuddin and only when I.S. Bindra mentioned his name in the media recently, to his utter shock, he realised that Manoj Prabhakar was talking about him. He further stated that Prabhakar never got along well with him. One of the reasons was that during the tour of England in 1987, when Chetan Sharma was injured, in spite of Manoj Prabhakar being in the 14, he had asked the then BCCI President Mr. Raj Singh Dungarpur to permit him to utilise the services of Madan Lal, who was playing league cricket in England and was not in the original Indian Team. On another occasion, when he was in the Board of Directors of Escorts company, a proposal to nominate Manoj Prabhakar and Raman Lamba was received and he had shot down that proposal. Perhaps due to these reasons Manoj Prabhakar had a grudge against him. Kapil Dev also volunteered to undergo an unconditional Lie Detector Test.

Sachin Tendulkar, former Indian Captain, when asked about the India- New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999, stated that by the end of third day's play when New Zealand had lost around 6 wickets, he had thought to himself that he would enforce the follow-on, the next day. However, the New Zealand innings dragged on till after lunch the next day and by then, he himself, Coach Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja decided that follow-on would not be enforced since the bowlers, especially Srinath had insisted that they were very tired. It was a collective decision not to enforce follow-on. On being asked whether anybody could have influenced this decision since the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew one day in advance that follow-on will not be enforced, he accepted that it was possible.

About Shobhan Mehta, the Bombay bookie, he stated that he had never met this person nor did he invite him to his wedding. During his wedding there was tight security and only select persons were invited and nobody without a proper invitation could have gate crashed. All speculations about himself and Shobhan Mehta were absolutely rubbish and he had never even met this person any time in his life.

On being asked whether he suspected any Indian player of being involved in match fixing, Sachin stated that during his tenure as Captain, he had felt that Mohd. Azharuddin was not putting in 100% effort and he suspected that he was involved with some bookies. On being asked about the India-West Indies match at Kanpur in 1994 when Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia batted slowly, he stated that he was the Vice-Captain during that match and he was absolutely sure that there were no instructions from The Management for Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia to bat slowly and that he was so upset with their tactics that he did not talk to them after the match.

Maninder Singh, former Indian Cricket Team player was asked about the Ranji Trophy Quarter final match between Delhi and Bombay in 1991 at Feroze Shah Kotla. He stated that in that particular year, the Ranji Trophy schedule was disturbed because of some Court order. Some of the Delhi players were committed to play league cricket in England. Had Delhi won that quarter final match, further Ranji Trophy matches would have clashed with league engagements in England. He stated that although there was no conscious decision to lose that match, the team was not serious about winning it either.

He stated that he was a member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. He confirmed that some of the Delhi players were committed to playing League Cricket in England that season. He stated that he was not contracted to play League Cricket in the year 1991. Kirti Azad denied that there was any conscious decision on the part of Delhi Team as a whole to lose the match against Bombay. However, he accepted that some members of the team may have taken such a decision. He denied that he was a party to any such decision to throw away the match.

He stated that he was member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. He also stated that he was contracted to play league cricket in England during that season. Atul Wassan further stated that the Ranji Trophy schedule in 1991 was delayed and would have clashed with league engagements of some of the players including himself in England. He stated that the players had asked DDCA to relieve them from Ranji Trophy engagements so that they could play league cricket in England but this plea was rejected. He further said that there was no conscious decision on the part of Delhi players to lose the match, but they were not very serious about winning the match.

Shri I.S. Bindra, former President of BCCI talked about a number of incidents which created suspicion that match fixing and betting existed in cricket. He referred to an incident of 1979 in which G.R. Vishwanath, Captain of the Indian team, went out to toss with Asif Iqbal, Captain of Pakistan and Vishwanath lost the toss, but to his utter surprise found Asif Iqbal insisting that Vishwanath had won the toss. There was a possibility that there might have been bets placed on the toss in this match. He also stated about another incident reported by Mr. L.P. Sahi in 'Telegraph' Newspaper, Calcutta, that Ajay Jadeja had brought a bookie to meet Azharuddin in the Dressing Room in 1994-95 at Sharjah and when reporters came to know of this, they tried to photograph the bookie with the players and their efforts were blocked by Jadeja and Azharuddin and the bookie was sent out in a hurry. He also alleged that Mr. P.M. Rungta and Dr. Ravinder Chaddha were the two persons whom he suspected of betting during Cricket matches.

As regards Manoj Prabhakar's allegations about Kapil Dev having offered him money during the Singer Cup 1994, Shri Bindra stated that Manoj Prabhakar met him for the first time on 22.4.2000 at Mohali, Chandigarh in the presence of Mr. Pandove, Secretary, PCA, and told him about the incident. Manoj Prabhakar also allegedly told Mr. Bindra that Navjyot Singh Sidhu was also present when this offer was made and Shri Bindra allegedly later on confirmed the same from N.S. Sidhu. He also stated that on one occasion Dr. Ali Irani had told him that Manoj Prabhakar, N..S. Sidhu and Nayan Mongia had placed bets on a cricket match not involving India at England. He further revealed that Azharuddin was presented a Mercedes Car in Sharjah by a person claiming to be his admirer. He stated that Mr. Jyoti Bajpai, the Administrative Manager of the Indian Team at that time had informed that the person who presented the Mercedes was a Pakistani supporter and it was difficult to understand why a Pakistani supporter should present a car to Azharuddin.

Shri I.S. Bindra also referred to the match in Sharjah which was played under failing light between India and Pakistan. He stated that there is a possibility that this match was continued because of some foul play, especially since matches in Sharjah were played for money and he referred to such matches as 'Masala and Thaila' matches.

He also narrated an incident in which India-New Zealand played a match in Sharjah on 20.4.98. The Secretary of Pakistan Cricket Board mentioned to him that he had overheard a conversation between Asif Iqbal and Marc Mascarhenas that the Indian team will be out for less than 185 runs and the top four Indian players will throw their wickets. This fact was also allegedly mentioned by the then President of Pakistan Cricket Board to Mr. Salve separately.

According to Bindra, the way Mr. Ali Bacher conducts matches in South Africa, creates a lot of suspicion. He has also talked about the World Cup 1999 match between India and Zimbabwe and said that Sunil Gavaskar, immediately after the match, had alleged on TV that someone from the Dressing Room had sent a message to the players to finish the match quickly even though many deliveries were left to get the required runs. Mr. Bindra further stated that when Sunil Gavaskar was ridiculed by Raj Singh Dungarpur for making such irresponsible statements, Sunil Gavaskar came out in the Press stating that it was Mr. Brijesh Patel, who was part of the team management who had told him so. He also stated that the role of bookies after 1996 had decreased in match fixing and now it is suspected that match fixing is done by 'Event Managers' who were signing up various players. The Event Managers are signing players for huge amounts and if for any reason, they are not able to recover their investment, they fix matches and performance to recover their money.

Sunil Dev, former Vice President, BCCI and Manager of Indian Team, stated that he suspected Ajay Sharma due to his proximity with Azharuddin. Ajay Sharma was seen at many places with Azharuddin during matches and was also available to Azharuddin on telephone. He revealed that some bookies had reportedly snatched Ajay Sharma's Opel Astra Car and his Cell phone, sometime after the India-South Africa series. Similarly, he also suspected one Karun Dubey, a former Ranji Trophy player, due to his proximity with Kapil Dev. He further stated that Karun Dubey visited Australia and was with Kapil Dev during the last series in Australia. He also stated that Kapil Dev owned a lot of property, including a flat in London, a house in Sunder Nagar, some residential property in Maharani Bagh, Safdarjung Enclave and some property in Chandigarh. It was difficult to believe that all this property can be owned purely through income as a Cricketer. He also stated that Ajay Jadeja also had lot of property in Delhi and Bombay which needed to be probed.

Sunil Dev also stated that when India plays in some non-regular venues like Singapore, Nairobi, Toronto and Dubai, there are some middlemen who take some money to arrange these matches in connivance with BCCI officebearers.

Shri Madhav Rao Scindia, former President, BCCI, stated that he was present at Sharjah during the India-Pakistan match which was played in failing light. Ashok Mankad was the Manager of the team at that time and Mohd. Azharuddin was Captain. He was present there in his capacity as President of BCCI. On being asked why the match was allowed to continue in darkness, he stated that, as a matter of principle, Office-bearers of BCCI do not interfere with decision making on the field. Such decisions are taken by the Coach, Captain and Team Management. On being asked about DRI tapes allegedly sent to him by Mr. Sivaraman, the then Revenue Secretary, sometime in 1995, he stated that Mr. Sivaraman had not handed over any tapes to him nor was any transcript or gist of information purportedly contained in those tapes given to him. He stated that he was not the BCCI President during that period and there is no reason why Mr. Sivaraman should have provided him the alleged tapes.