M A I N   N E W S

Life ban on Azhar, Sharma
Jadeja barred for five years

CHENNAI, Dec 5 (PTI) — Coming down heavily on tainted players, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today slapped life ban on Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma and banned Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar and physio Ali Irani for five years for their involvement in betting and match-fixing.

The board exonerated wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia of the charge of match-fixing and Delhi groundsman Ram Adhar of doctoring a pitch.

While Azharuddin and Sharma have been debarred from holding any position in the International Cricket Council or the board or its affiliated associations for life, others have been barred for five years. They will also be denied benefit matches and the board’s contribution to the players fund.

“The disciplinary committee is of the considered opinion that the players and the physiotherapist have conducted themselves in a manner which is prejudicial to the interests of the game of cricket.

“In taking its decision, the disciplinary committee has also kept in mind the contributions made by the players and the physiotherapist to the game,” the board said in a release adding the decision was unanimous.

The board’s action comes in the wake of the CBI report into betting and match-fixing and the subsequent Madhavan report which confirmed the CBI findings except in the case of Mongia.

The board allowed the players and Irani to appeal to it against the punishment awarded to them.

Announcing the decision at a crowded press conference, the board President, Mr A.C. Muthiah, said it was being, communicated to all concerned by the board secretary Mr Jaywant Lele.

Today’s disciplinary committee meeting was attended by Mr Muthiah and Mr K.M. Ram Prasad while the third member and the board Vice-President, Mr Kamal Morarka, who favoured a soft line on the tainted players, was absent.

As the match-fixing scandal rocked the cricketing world, the Government asked the CBI to investigate the entire gamut of the case.

The CBI completed its probe in about six months and named five cricketers including Mongia but cleared the name of Kapil Dev, former Indian captain and coach, who had been accused of bribery for match-fixing by Prabhakar.

On submission of the CBI report to the Government, the board appointed Mr K. Madhavan, a former Joint Director of the CBI as its anti-corruption commissioner to conduct a probe based on the premier investigative agency’s report.

NEW DELHI (UNI): Lambasting the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for its decision to impose a five-year ban on him, Manoj Prabhakar on Tuesday night added a new dimension to the controversy alleging that it was a board member who had introduced him to the betting syndicate.

Prabhakar, who brought to surface the match-fixing scandal in Indian cricket, claimed that a ‘lot of corruption’ plagued the board and demanded that the BCCI also come out clean to end the present mess forever.

Without naming anybody, he claimed that it was a board official who had introduced him to a bookie. He did not divulge the time and place.