Speak up or face action, Muthiah tells Prabhakar

Asked about the reason for Prabhakar’s non-appearance before the CBI even after about three weeks of the announcement of the CBI probe, he said it was difficult to guess what he was planning. However, he should have been the first to go to the agency.

The way he has been putting off his deposition before the agency gives the impression that he has very little or nothing to tell, he added.

When asked why the BCCI was not releasing the benevolent fund due to Prabhakar, Muthiah said it was with an attempt to prevent him from turning back and saying that the money has been released by the BCCI to keep him silent. It was also likely that he might then decide to say nothing to the CBI.

Whether he had any meeting with Prabhakar in recent times, Muthiah told the website that he had met him some time back and had asked him whether he had met the CBI officers. The former all-rounder had responded that he would be doing so in due course of time.

Clarifying the reasons for the BCCI not holding its own inquiry into the match-fixing scandal, Muthiah said that at one point of time the board had thought of holding its own inquiry to clear up things, but dropped the idea after the government announced in April end that it was handing over the matter to the CBI.

Whether he had spoken to Kapil Dev after Bindra levelled match-fixing allegations against him, he said he had not had any occasion to speak to the Indian coach, but Kapil has informed other board officials how he feels about the whole issue. “He (Kapil) feels that he is being unnecessarily harassed.”

When asked did he believe Kapil, he replied in affirmative.

What action the board was contemplating to take against Kapil, if found guilty, the BCCI chief said the board has already announced that any player who was found guilty in the match-fixing case will be banned for life and his records erased from the records books.

He admitted that the focus of the ongoing match-fixing controversy has shifted to `fixing’ of individuals, and conceded that the BCCI was passing through one of the most difficult periods because of mudslinging by certain board members.

Former board chief IS Bindra had been making allegations all along that cricketers, officials and board officials were all involved in various cricketing malpractices. His allegations had dominated the just-concluded meeting of the bcci’s working committee.

“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.

Asked about the damage that allegations of match-fixing would cause to Indian cricket, he said, “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 IS Bindra on one side and Jagmohan Dalmiya, Kamal Morarka, PM Rungta and Joyti Bajpai on the other.”

Muthiah said the board officials had also asked Bindra to name the three players he had reprimanded, but the former board president refused to divulge that saying that he had done so verbally.

He said the BCCI would present its side of the version when the CBI gets in touch with it. “In any case I am planning to write to CBI to find out about the clause of confidentiality that Bindra has claimed.”

But it would be done only three months from now as by that time the CBI would be in a position to reach to some conclusion on the issue.

Why did Bindra chose to go to the CNN and make allegations against Kapil Dev, the BCCI president said the matter was also taken up during the working committee meeting and Bindra did not give a direct reply saying that he had told the CBI whatever he had to say.

About Bindra’s alleged links with sports promoter Aushim Kehtrapal, he said that some members of the board did ask Bindra about it. Bindra asked the BCCI to raise the matter it its show cause notice.