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Prabhakar keeps his date with CBI

Onkar Singh in Delhi

Manoj Prabhakar today finally met top officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation and got his statement recorded.

The former Indian cricket all-rounder came to the CBI office at 2.30 this afternoon and was closeted with officials investigating the match-fixing case for more than an hour-and-a-half.

Prabhakar managed to keep a majority of media men in the dark about his possible visit to the CBI, as only yesterday he had told a group of newsmen that he would depose before the investigating agency later this week. It is believed that even the CBI officials were taken aback when he announced his intention to see joint director R N Savani and two other officers, namely Deputy Inspector General Y P Singh and Superintendent of Police S P Ganapati, at short notice.

According to CBI spokesperson S M Khan, Prabhakar had a "good" meeting with the investigating team.

In an exclusive conversation with rediff.com, Savani said his team is satisfied with Prabhakar's statement. He refused to confirm or deny whether Prabhakar had endorsed the allegations of match-fixing against former Indian captain Kapil Dev.

"He came in the afternoon and was closeted with us for an hour-and-a-half, and during this period we managed to record his statement. He has given us enough material to work on," said Savani.

"Another cricketer who was also examined by us was Navjot Singh Siddhu. He came a couple of days earlier. We have so far examined more then half a dozen board officials and cricketers," he revealed.

According to CBI sources, more cricketers are likely to be examined in the next few days. They confirmed that the agency has now enough material to go full steam ahead with the investigations.

"We have divided the whole thing into two parts. The one dealing with match-fixing is being looked after by one team, and the allegations regarding television rights are being looked after another team, led by joint director S K Uppadhayay, who heads the anti-corruption branch of the CBI. If Bindra has sent clarifications, I would not be able to tell you about it," Savani said.

Meanwhile, Prabhakar refused to speak to newsmen waiting outside the CBI headquarters. Attempts to contact him on telephone too proved futile.

"I have told Manoj that you have been trying to get in touch with him and he has promised that he would call you back as soon as possible," said Mrs Prabhakar.

CBI sources denied that any journalist has been examined by the agency. Media circles are agog with rumours that the agency might go on the offensive now and conduct countrywide raids to unearth more evidence.

The anti-corruption branch of the CBI, which is looking into allegations of irregularities in the issue of television rights, is likely to carry out these raids.

I S Bindra, former president of the BCCI and 1965 batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service, had alleged that International Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya had favoured certain persons while awarding television rights for the 1998 Dhaka knock-out World Cup tournament, resulting in a loss of four million dollars to Doordarshan.