Former MP lashes out at match fixing charges

Even two weeks after the disclosure by the Delhi-based additional Income Tax commissioner Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not come to the defence of the recent former captain who is alleged to have declared an unaccounted sum of Rs 16 crore under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) in 1997. The Board has not planned to sue the commissioner either, unlike Manoj Prabhakar, against whom a defamation case of Rs five crore is pending.

However, the former MP Kamal Morarka has come forward to defend the captain. Incidentally, Morarka, a prominent industrialist is also a vice president of the BCCI. In a personal chat (but not in his capacity as a BCCI functionary) with this correspondent, Morarka has raised quite a few points worth pondering over.

"It is very unfortunate that the cricketers are being blamed today, because the team is going through a bad patch. Allegations are easy to make. In this country, there is a habit of hurling charges casually without sufficient proof. I, for one, don't appreciate cricketers being vilified without sufficient reasons. People who have made allegations about match-fixing should be interrogated by the authorities as to what information, if any, they possess. Otherwise, it is a never ending game".

On the question of an Income Tax official making a statement, Morarka said it was most unfair. ``First of all, the VDIS scheme was confidential. Why is he selectively disclosing that one cricketer has declared a large hidden amount? Why is he not telling us how many politicians and others have declared large amounts. Further, to jump to conclusions that the amount declared must have been earned out of match-fixing is preposterous. There can be several avenues of earning money which are quite legitimate. In fact, politicians are covered by prevention of corruption act, but not cricketers".

Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, who has just escaped from a major car accident recently, when contacted on his mobile phone in Delhi, stated, "I am planning to urge the Supreme Court to force the Ministry of Finance to announce the names of cricketers (and others) who have declared a large unaccounted income under VDIS".