Fallen hero Prabhakar betrays the nation

Prabhakar’s role in the present match-fixing scandal, as portrayed by the CBI, has been the story of a man who committed crimes after crimes and then pretended to be a crusader.

The seven foreign cricket stars introduced by Prabhakar to notorious bookie Mukesh Kumar Gupta alias MK are ex-Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga and his deputy Arvinda D’Silva, former captain and present wicket-keeper of the English team Alec Stewart, Australian opener Mark Waugh and his ex-teammate Dean Jones, West Indies cricketing genius Brian Lara and former Pakistani skipper Salim Malik.

The remaining two cricketers former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and disgraced South African skipper Hansie Cronje were introduced to the bad world of match-fixing and betting by D’Silva and Mohammad Azharuddin respectively.

CBI collected evidence against these players, through co-operation from bookies, to establish that they took money to provide `information’ about weather, team composition and pitch, if not for fixing matches. Prabhakar also introduced West Indian Gus Logie to Mukesh Gupta. CBI had also named four Pakistani players Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Waqar Younis and Inzamam-ul-Haq and one of its former captain Asif Iqbal and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya in the report. But no evidence of their involvement has been found.

The one-time leading all-rounder following the CBI investigation emerged as a prime figure in the present match-fixing and betting controversy who worked as a tool for the betting syndicate to prosper their business.

Ironically, it was Prabhakar who had alleged that cricketing icon Kapil Dev had offered him Rs 25 lakh bribe to underperform in a match against Pakistan in Sri Lanka in 1994. He had also alleged that match-fixing had seeped into the bloodstream of the game in the country and a large number of cricketers are neck-deep into the `trade’.

Again, it was he who, through his secretly-taped interviews, had tried to make people speak about match-fixing and betting in Indian cricket and exposed the names of Ajay Jadeja, Azharuddin, Nayan Mongia and Ajay Sharma besides several cricketing officials. But after the six-month long CBI match-fixing inquiry, Prabhakar emerged as the prime accused in the scandal.

Salim Malik, against whom Pakistan cricket board has imposed a ban for indulging in the illegal trade, was the first to have come in contact with Prabhakar on October 13, 1991. Malik was introduced to MK who paid him Rs 8 lakh for fixing the match between Pakistan Wills XI and India Wills XI.

Prabhakar again came in the picture when he introduced Dean Jones and later Mark Waugh to MK to seek information about pitch conditions, team composition and weather. Alec Stewart became his fourth victim in 1993. He was paid a handsome 5000 pounds by MK in the first meeting for providing certain `information’. Prabhakar introduced D’Silva, who has accepted the CBI charge of accepting money, and Ranatunga to MK for fixing matches. D’Silva and Ranatunga also fixed a cricket Test in 1994 between the two neighbours. D’Silva utilising his proximity to the bookie later introduced MK to Martin Crowe.

Same year, Prabhakar eyed Brian Lara and introduced MK to the star left-hander and World record holder for the highest individual score in a Test innings. Lara was paid $ 40,000 by the bookie. Around this time only, Gus Logie was also targeted, but Prabhakar could not convince him and the great fielder refused to field the offer from MK.

Azhar introduced MK to Cronje in 1996 during the India-South Africa Test at Kanpur. Cronje was paid about $ 90,000 by MK for fixing matches.

The CBI inquiry has established that Prabhakar, during his playing career and after retirement, had linkages with a number of bookies and punters. There is also evidence of his having underperformed and passed on information to the betting syndicate.

The agency investigation proved that besides placing bets on cricket matches, there is also evidence of Prabhakar receiving money from them for rendering such services. The credit of introducing the ex-all rounder to the global betting syndicate in 1990 goes to former Delhi Ranji captain Ajay Sharma. Within a year of being exposed to the betting world, Prabhakar started `operating’.

Among the bookies and punters close to Prbhakar are MK, Tipukohli, Anand Saxena, Sanjeev Chawla (the absconding bookie wanted in the Delhi police case against Hansie Cronje), Rajesh Kalra (again Hansie Cronje fame), Sunil Dara and Rattan Mehta.

About his proximity with bookies, Prabhakar explained to the CBI that he was in close contact with them in connection with his personal `investigation’ into the match-fixing. Though it is a different story that when he produced `Fallen Heroes…’ (as the tape produced by tehelka.com is known), he did not interview any of these persons nor did he make any reference to them, the CBI said.