India, S A hold talks on match-fixing scam

Emerging out of an hour-long meeting with top officers at the police headquarters, Batohi termed the meeting as "very positive, very good and very encouraging."

Batohi, who was accompanied by South Afircan Deputy High Commissioner here and Captain Geoff Edwards of South African Police, told reporters "the meeting would go a long way."

Asked whether she had requested the Delhi Police to hand over the taped conversation between disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje and book-maker Sanjeev Chawla, Batohi said "We are looking into the legality. We are sure it will be sorted out."

Later, briefing reporters, Joint Commissioner of Police(Crime) K K Paul said the request of voiced tapes available with Delhi Police for use in the King Commission was being examined "as there were legal hurdles".

Paul said the Delhi Police had sought Batohi’s help in securing voice samples of Cronje and South African bookmaker Hamid Banjo Cassim for authenticating the tapes, which were at present a case property.

During her four day stay in the capital, Batohi is also expected to meet officials of the CBI, which is probing the entire gamut of the match-fixing in cricket and Income Tax officials, who carried a nation-wide raids on cricketers, administrators and bookies following exposure of the scandal.

After the meeting, Batohi was whisked away from the backgate even as a large posse of media persons waited outside the main gate of the Police headquarters.

Describing today’s meeting as "preliminary", Paul said more discussions would be held in the coming days and the two sides would work out the modalities about further probe.

On the Delhi Police demand for Cronje and Cassim’s voice samples, "They (South Africans) have their own procedures and problems so it is diffult for them to commit anything to us off-hand”, she said. Asked whether the Delhi Police would seek confessional statements of cricket players before the King Edwin Commission, he said "modalities are being worked out for their possible use by the Delhi Police in its case."

To a question regarding the taped conversation, Paul said "these were case property and certain legal formalities had to be performed before opening up their seals."

He, however, said that the Delhi Police had not discussed the extradition of any player including Cronje mentioned in the FIR filed by them on April 7 this year.

"It will take time. There are certain aspects pertaining to South Africa and England (where Chawla is based). Once that information is available, we can go ahead," he said.