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'If Prabhakar is not telling the truth then he will face stiff action from the board'

Onkar Singh and Faisal Shariff, in Delhi

Board for Control of Cricket in India president Dr A C Muthaiah today admitted that the focus of the ongoing match-fixing controversy has shifted to 'fixing' of individuals, and conceded that the BCCI is passing through one of the most difficult periods because of mud-slinging by certain board members against each other.

Former board cheif I S Bindra's remarks, in an interview to rediff.com, that 'while the cricketers are clean, the same could not be said of some of the board officials', had yesterday dominated the proceedings of the working committee meeting of the board.

"This issue was raised by some of the members of the board while Bindra was there. He was asked to name the officials he thinks have been involved in the match-fixing but he did not say anything. Instead he told us that what he has told CBI is strictly a confidential matter," Muthiah said.

In an exclusive interview with rediff.com, the BCCI chief discussed the match-fixing episode. Excerpts:

How much damage has the allegations of match-fixing done to Indian cricket?

What started off from Hansie Cronje has now turned into a sort of match between some officials of the BCCI. It has transgressed into something else. Match-fixing has gone into the background. There has been exchange of charges and counter charges between I S Bindra on one side and Jagmohan Dalmiya, Kamal Morarka, P M Rungta and Joyti Bajpai on the other. Bindra has made allegations against not only Kapil Dev but also some of the board officials.

Last year, in an interview with rediff.com, he had given a clean chit to the players in the match-fixing case, but had said that some of the board officials were involved in it. The members of the working committee repeatedly asked him to name the officials. But he did not name anyone. Instead, he said that he is bound by the contract of confidentiality between him and the CBI. He was asked to name the three players he had reprimanded. He refused to tell the names and instead said that he had done so verbally.

If he has made allegations against board officials in his lengthy document presented to CBI, then would you not like to defend the BCCI officials and present your version?

Of course, we would present our side of the version when the CBI gets in touch with us. In any case I am planning to write to CBI to find out about this clause of confidentiality that Bindra has claimed. But this I plan to do three months from now. Till that time the CBI would be in a position to reach to some conclusion on this issue.

Have you spoken to Kapil Dev after the match-fixing allegations were levelled against him by Bindra?

I haven't had the occasion to meet Kapil Dev since I have been travelling, and now he is travelling. But he has told my colleagues in the board how he feels about the allegations of match-fixing against him. He feels that he is being unnecessarily harassed.

Do you believe Kapil Dev?

Yes, I do.

When the CBI inquiry was announced why did Bindra go to CNN and give an interview, and announce the name of Kapil Dev? Did you ask Bindra about it?

Yes, this matter was also taken up during the meeting and he was asked why he went in for an interview with CNN instead of going to the CBI and telling the agency all that he told the television interviewer.

He did not give a direct answer to the question. He said that he had told the CBI whatever he had to say.

Have you had a talk with Manoj Prabhakar?

Yes, he had met me sometime back. I asked him if he had met the CBI officers. He told me that he would do so in due course. At one point of time we had thought of holding our own inquiry. We wanted to clear up things. Then came the government announcement handing over the investigations to the CBI. We then dropped the idea.

Would you take action against Kapil Dev if he is proved guilty?

We have already announced that any player who is found guilty in the match-fixing case will be banned for life and his records erased from the record books.

But if Manoj Prabhakar is not telling the truth then what action will you take against him?

I can promise you that if Prabhakar is not telling the truth then he will face stiff action from the board.

What is Bindra’s link with Aushim Kehtrapal?

Some members of the board did ask Bindra about it. He said that we could raise the matter in our show cause letter and he would give a reply. Not only this, but many other issues were also raised and Bindra promised to deal with all of them one by one in his reply letter to the BCCI.

Why are you not releasing the benevolent money due to Prabhakar?

If we did that then he might start saying that the board has released the money to keep him quite. It is also likely that he might then decide to say nothing before the CBI. He has been demanding a CBI inquiry since 1997 and now he should go before the agency and tell whatever he knows about match-fixing.

The CBI inquiry was announced on April 28 and till now Prabhakar has not given his statement before the CBI. Do you think he is avoiding the CBI?

It is very difficult to say what he is planning to do. He should have been the first to go before the agency and depose. The way he has been putting off his deposition before the agency gives the impression that he has very little or nothing to tell.

The Betting Scandal: The full story