Response to allegations made against Ajay Jadeja in the CBI Report on match-fixing and related malpractices in cricket.

II MUKESH GUPTA'S STATEMENT ON HIS MEETING WITH ME

I refute and completely deny the allegations in the Report in relation MK's statement regarding the meeting with me that he claims took place. I completely refute that this meeting took place at any point of time.

The CBI Report, in the analysis on MK's statement in relation to me states at Page 114 as follows,

"At the insistence of MK Ajay Sharma introduced Ajay Jadeja to MK in 1996. MK has stated that Jadeja came to his house along with Abhay Sharma and a girl and offered to "do" matches for him. However, no deal could be struck as Jadeja was only offering his services along with those of Mongia.

MK has further stated that he paid a sum of Rs. 50,000/- during this meeting. Ajay Sharma has corroborated the statement of MK and has further stated that of the Rs.50,000/- paid by MK, Jadeja kept Rs.32,000 himself to purchase a cell phone and gave remaining Rs.18,000 to him.

On the other hand Jadeja has stated that he does not remember meeting MK, since he has met so many people in his life. He has also denied receiving Rs. 50,000 from MK Gupta. Anil Steel, a bookie from Bombay has also stated that once he saw Jadeja in the hotel room of MK in Calcutta during the inaugural ceremony of the World Cup, 1996 which corroborates the links between Ajay Jadeja and MK."

I have the following specific responses in relation to this statement, which in my view clearly establish the fact that the CBI's findings must be considered completely suspect.

(a) In MK's statement, it is mentioned that the meeting took place "somewhere around this time". I presume that this refers to the period around the Mohinder Amarnath benefit match (page 27 of the Report) which was held in October- November 1996
(b) In Ajay Sharma's statement , on page 59, it is mentioned that this meeting took place sometime in the mid 1990's and no at the time mentioned in the preceding paragraph as stated by MK.
(c) The report also mentions on page 31 that a person by the name Anil Steel claims that he met me in MK's room in Calcutta during the 1996 World Cup. The World Cup took place in February- March 1996.

Each of these statements contradict each other in relation to the dates, which this supposed meeting was held.

Even if we are to believe that MK's statement is true(which it is not) i.e that he met me for the first time at his house in Defence Colony in Delhi towards the end of 1996, it is not then possible to accept as true that Anil Steele's statement that he met me in Calcutta during the World Cup which was early in the same year.

Further, the failure of MK and Ajay Sharma to remember the date with any degree of accuracy sheds further doubt on their statements, which in any event I completely deny.

I therefore contend that all statements about this meeting are completely false and that the meeting never took place.

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