Match-fixing report won't be out on Monday
Onkar Singh
Official spokesman of the Central Bureau of Investigation S M Khan denied reports that the agency will be naming four Indian players involved in match-fixing on Moday.
Speaking to rediff.com, Khan said the report has to be first handed over to Minister of Sports Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and then it will be left to the ministry to decided whether to make it public or not.
Sources in the CBI said the top brass of the investigating agency were surprised to read reports from Nairobi that the agency would name four Indian players involved in the
match-fixing scandal. The reports were based on comments made by a top official of the BCCI who was in Nairobi to watch the ICC knock-out final between India and New Zealand.
"All sorts of speculative stories are doing rounds in media circles. Though the agency has not officially said a word about the report itself, reports have appeared covering almost all aspects of the match-fixing. Some even went to the extent of saying that Kapil Dev has been cleared by the CBI. Now we hear the names of three or four Indian
players who have been allegedly indicted by the agency," said a top CBI official.
R N Sawani, the joint director incharge of the match-fixing investigations, is currently touring Austria in connection with official work and will return to Delhi only on September 23.
When contacted, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who has
just returned from a tour of the United States, denied that the CBI is handing
over the match-fixing report on Monday. "So far no one has got in touch
with me on this issue. The report was to be handed over in the last week
of September. I have asked the officials of the ministry to find out
from the CBI when it will be in a position to give us the report
officially. I would be in a better position to tell you anything on
this matter either late in the evening or tomorrow morning," Dhindsa told
rediff.com.
Sources in the sports ministry revealed that Dhindsa is keen on tabling the report in Parliament before revealing the names of those implicated in the report.
Mail Cricket Editor
