I-T officials claim proof of huge amounts after raids

Documents indicating movement of funds and withdrawal of cash for investments in properties have been seized during the search operations on eight premises in Mumbai, P K Sharma, Director General (Investigation), said.

In Delhi, I-T sources said papers recovered from a bookie following a raid on his premises showed that he had transferred his property in Lajpat Nagar under a settlement to someone.

Evidence gathered from some cricketers in Delhi revealed “huge investments, deposits, income from unexplained sources and movable and immovable properties,” they said.

Over 300 I-T officials took part in search operations on the premises of national coach Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma and some bookies in Delhi.

I-T sources in Mumbai said huge cash transactions relating to investments in immovable property and evidence of the lavish lifestyle of a former India skipper were found.

Sharma said inquiries were being made about the personal and commercial transactions by a former BCCI president and another person linked with him after their premises were raided today. “We had carried out a survey of these premises yesterday which was converted into a raid today,” he said.

Sharma said two more bank lockers have been sealed, taking the total number to 10 and bank accounts with substantial cash balance have been detected. According to one official, the balance is as much as Rs 1.75 crore.

In Calcutta, where Dalmiya’s offices and other premises were searched, I-T sources said “as of now, we can only say that six of his bank lockers in the city have been sealed and will be opened only next week.” The sources declined to give details of the seizures.

I-T officials searched the residence of Haren Hathi, an associate of Kapil Dev, in Ahmedabad and two of his premises in Rajkot today. Hathi confirmed the raids on his flat in Ahmedabad and said his bank lockers were searched and bank account books seized by the officials. He told PTI that he was a “liaison” man for Kapil Dev in Gujarat whenever the former India captain required his services.

BCCI chief A C Muthiah has, meanwhile, welcomed the raids but added that the innocent should not be harassed. In a statement, Muthiah said “the government’s decision on raids is welcome.”

The raids at Kapil’s premises in Chandigarh ended early today, I-T officials said. They said two residences of his brothers in sectors nine and 27, a saw mill and Hotel Kapil were raided.

The sources said the raid at the residence of Navjot Sidhu ended last night. The parties had searched two residences of Sidhu in Yadavindra Colony and Century Enclave and four showrooms at Baradari Garden.

Meanwhile, former Test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, who triggered off the match-fixing controversy, today justified the raids. “From now, people should realise that the CBI and I-T people are doing their job sincerely to clean the system,” he told PTI here. On the searches at his own home yesterday, the all-rounder said “I have nothing to hide, nothing to declare.”

He said the investigators went to his house at 8 am and during their 12-hour operation went through various papers and documents and asked questions about some of them.

Prabhakar, who had named Kapil Dev as the man who had allegedly offered him money inColombo in 1994 to underperform, said the I-T officials asked him about his connections with the website tehelka.com.

“I told them that the website people helped me in my investigations (which resulted in video tapes of interviews with cricketers and administrators) and I helped them. There were no financial transactions between me and tehelka,” he said.

Prabhakar said no papers or documents were taken away from his home and the investigators told him that he could open his lockers only in their presence.