Asia Times: Cricket's whistle-blowers and phone-ringers


	December 2, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Cricket's whistle-blowers and phone-ringers

12) Ajay Jadeja

Ajay Jadeja has close relations with a number of bookies/punters, including Rajesh Kalra, Rattan Mehta, Uttam Chand, Krishan Kumar (implicated in the Hansie Cronje case) and Ajay Gupta. He has also given "judgement" and "information" regarding cricket matches to Uttam Chand and Rattan Mehta. It has emerged in the enquiry that Ajay Jadeja met M.K. Gupta in 1996 and offered to 'do' matches for him. As he could not promise the help of other players except one, the deal did not materialise. Both M.K. Gupta and Uttam Chand have stated that they paid money to Ajay Jadeja.

At the insistence of M.K. Gupta, Ajay Sharma introduced Ajay Jadeja to M.K. Gupta in 1996. M.K. Gupta has stated that Ajay Jadeja came to his house along with Ajay Sharma and a girl and offered to "do" matches for him. However, no deal could be struck as Ajay Jadeja was only offering his services along with those of Nayan Mongia. M.K. Gupta has further stated that he paid a sum of Rs 50,000 to Jadeja during this meeting. Ajay Sharma has corroborated the statement of M.K. Gupta and has further stated that of the Rs 50,000 paid by M.K. Gupta, Jadeja kept Rs 32,000 himself to purchase a cell phone and gave the remaining Rs 18,000 to him. On the other hand, Ajay Jadeja has stated that he does not remember meeting M.K. Gupta, since he had met so many people in his life. He has also denied having received Rs 50,000 from M.K. Gupta. Anil Steel, a bookie from Bombay has also stated that he once saw Ajay Jadeja in the hotel room of M.K. Gupta in Calcutta during the inaugural ceremony of the World Cup Cricket, 1996, which corroborates the links between Jadeja and M.K.

During the enquiry, a print-out of the cell phone number 98100 34882 of Ajay Jadeja for the period from 15.9.99 to 30.4.2000 was taken and studied. A scrutiny of the print-out has disclosed that Ajay Jadeja had made and received telephone calls in varying numbers from and to Rajesh Kalra, a punter. Rattan Mehta, a big time punter, Uttam Chand, a bookie/punter, Ajay Gupta, a punter and Krishan Kumar (implicated in the Hansie Cronje case). When questioned about these contacts, Ajay Jadeja stated that he knew Kalra as they visited the same Gym at Hotel Park Royal. Jadeja, however, denied that he ever discussed cricket with Rajesh Kalra or passed on any information about cricket matches to him.

Ajay Jadeja accepts that he knows Krishan Kumar, but he did not have any knowledge that he was a punter. He admits that he is very close to Rattan Mehta but denies that he knew Rattan Mehta was a big-time punter. Ajay Jadeja has specifically denied that he fixed matches for Rattan Mehta. Rattan Mehta in his examination supported the statement of Ajay Jadeja about being close to him and admitted taking Ajay Jadeja's 'judgement' on certain matches. It is, however, difficult to accept Jadeja's statement that he did not know that Rattan Mehta was a big time punter, given his accepted closeness to Rattan Mehta. Jadeja's statement is further suspect in the light of the statement of Pawan Puri, a punter of Delhi, who has stated that he had travelled with Ajay Jadeja on a flight from Mumbai to Delhi during which they discussed cricket matches and Jadeja had at that time told him that he had "done" matches for Rattan Mehta during the India, 'India - A' and 'India - B', Challenger Trophy in February, 2000. (Ajay Jadeja was the Captain of India - B Team which lost both its matches.)

Md. Azharuddin, during his examination, stated that in the Titan Cup Series in 1996, he had 'made' matches for M.K. Gupta and that Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were also involved with him. In his statement, Dr. Ali Irani has also stated that he had absolutely no doubt about the involvement of Ajay Jadeja with Azharuddin, and that in 1996, during a one-day match, Ajay Jadeja had also told him not to talk bout "such things' to him as he was no longer into it. Dr. Ali Irani has further stated that he suspected that Ajay Jadeja made this statement to him, because by that time Jadeja probably knew that Azharuddin had confided to him (Dr. Ali Irani) about match-fixing.

Another major bookie/punter Uttam Chand, during his examination, has stated that he used to get 'information' regarding various aspects of the match from Jadeja in matches in which India was playing. On the basis of information provided by Jadeja, he used to further place bets. Uttam Chand has also disclosed that he paid a sum of Rs 1 lakh initially at the time when he was introduced to Ajay Jadeja at a function in Hotel Chola Sheraton in Chennai, and later he paid a sum of Rs 5 lakh through 'Hawala' transfer when Ajay Jadeja was in Mumbai during a match. Ajay Jadeja has denied that he received any money from Uttam Chand. He has also stated that initially he only thought that Uttam Chand was his 'fan' and used to talk to him in order to avoid the nuisance of continuous calls from him. Jadeja has further stated that, after some time, he did get an inkling that Uttam Chand was a bookie. On being asked as to why he continued talking to Uttam Chand even after coming to know that he was a bookie, Jadeja could not provide a satisfactory answer.

The assertion of Jadeja that often he would talk to Uttam Chand only to get rid of the nuisance of continuous telephone calls is difficult to accept, as Jadeja could very easily have firmly told Uttam Chand not to ring him up. He could also have declined to take any calls from Uttam Chand. On the contrary, he not only accepted calls from Uttam Chand and talked to him for minutes, but also, on occasions, returned the call of Uttam Chand. The timings of the call between Uttam Chand and Jadeja also suggest great familiarity between the two as there have been a number of calls around midnight. It seems peculiar as to why Jadeja should be talking to a bookie/punter around midnight, specially when he is scheduled to play a match the next morning. It is also of interest that Uttam Chand and Jadeja have spoken to each other, only a day prior to a matcher on the day of the match. There have been no calls between them during a gap between two series or even during a gap in matches during a particular series. The connection between Uttam Chand and Jadeja is, therefore, not innocent. The connection between the two becomes further suspect as telephone calls in the print-out of Uttam Chand's Cell Phone No. 98400 37700 show that on occasions after talking to Jadeja he has spoken to well-known bookies such as Shobhan Mehta of Mumbai and Hans Kumar Jain of Delhi etc.

A random sample of Cell phone calls between Jadeja and Uttam Chand are reproduced below as an illustration. Many of the calls made by Uttam Chand to Jadeja are of short duration and these are probably messages left in the voice mail:

1. 10.10.1999 - 2 calls from Uttam Chand to Jadeja. They were made on the first day of 1st Test Match between India and New Zealand at Mohali.

2. 11.10.1999 - 8 calls from Uttam Chand to Jadeja. These were made on the 2nd day of the Mohali Test Match.

3. 12.10:1999 - 23 calls from Uttam Chand on the third day of the Test Match.

4. 13.10.1999 - 46 calls from Uttam Chand on the fourth day of the Test Match.

5. 14.10.1999 - 1 call from Uttam Chand on the last day of Mohali Test Match.

6. 28.10.1999 - 24 calls from Uttam Chand. This was one day prior to the Third Test Match between India - New Zealand at Ahmedabad.

7. 29.10.1999 - 13 calls from Uttam Chand. This was the first day of the 3rd Test Match.

8. 30.10.1999 - 62 calls from Uttam Chand on the 2nd day of the Test Match.

9. 31.10.1999 - 30 calls from Uttam Chand. This was the third day of the Test Match.

10. 01.11.1999 - 50 calls from Uttam Chand on the 4th day of the Test Match.

11. 02.11.1999 - 14 calls from Uttam Chand on the last day of the Test Match.

12. 13.11.1999 - 48 calls from Uttam Chand to Jadeja and 1 call from Jadeja to Uttam Chand. This was one day prior to the India-New Zealand one-dayer at Guwahati

13. 14,11.1999 - 5 calls from Uttam Chand on the day of Guwahati one-dayer.

14. 16.11.1999 - 55 calls from Uttam Chand to Jadeja and 1 from Jadeja to Uttam Chand one day prior to the 5th one dayer between India and New Zealand at Delhi.

15. 11.3.2000 - Uttam Chand has made 28 calls. This was one day prior to the one-dayer between India-South Africa at Jamshedpur.

16. 12.3.2000 - Uttam Chand has made 3 calls on the day of the Jamshedpur one-dayer.

The evidence against Ajay Jadeja clearly establish that he has been close to a number of bookies/punters and has provided them "information" about cricket matches on payment of money. However, it has to be surmised that no bookie/punter will pay money for 'information', which is very easily available on television and the word is used as subterfuge for underperforming and match-fixing.

Ajay Jadeja was extremely intransigent during examination, and, even when confronted with evidence, issued bland denials.

Nayan Mongia

His name has figured in match fixing and related malpractices in the statements of Azharuddin, Dr Ali Irani, Ajay Sharma and others. In fact, Azharuddin has stated that he used to rope in Mongia also whenever he 'did' matches. However, in spite of strong suspicion against Nayan Mongia, due to lack of corroboration on material particulars, the evidence against him is not all that strong. The evidence against Mongia is discussed in detail below.

Azharuddin has said that the other Indian players involved with him are Nayan Mongia and Ajay Jadeja. He has, however, not disclosed specific amounts of money paid to Mongia and Jadeja. Azharuddin has, however, specified two matches in which Nayan Mongia was involved with him -- the Titan Cup match at Rajkot and India-Pakistan one-dayer at Jaipur in 1999. Dr Ali Irani has stated that one of the players involved with Azhar was Mongia. Ajay Sharma has also stated that Nayan Mongia used to operate through Azhar. MK, in his statement, has said that when Ajay Jadeja met him sometime in 1996 at his residence, he could 'promise' only Mongia and hence, the deal did not come through. Sh. I.S. Bindra has stated that once Ali Irani had told him that Mongia was one of the players who had placed bets in England on a match not involving India.

Nayan Mongia, in his statement, has denied that he has intentionally underperformed in any match. He has also stated that he does not know any bookie. His telephone analysis does not disclose any contacts with known bookies. However, Mongia has not been able to explain his slow batting at Kanpur in the 1994 one-dayer against West Indies. Prabhakar has stated that when Mongia came to the crease, he told Prabhakar to bat slowly and preserve wickets. Mongia has not explained as to who passed on such instructions to him. The Coach during that series, Ajit Wadekar, Captain Azharuddin, Vice-Captain Sachin Tendulkar have all denied having given such instructions. In the circumstances, it has to be presumed that it was Nayan Mongia who, on his own, passed the instructions.

The evidence against Mongia is not strong. There is no direct evidence of any player/bookie having paid Mongia money to under perform. Azharuddin'sstatement does carry weight since he has implicated himself as well, but is not conclusive proof of the involvement of Nayan Mongia. However, it has to be stated that Nayan Mongia could have only operated through other established stars since for a bookie/punter, he was not as 'valuable' as Azhar or Jadeja, to be approached individually.

Even though there is no direct evidence linking Nayan Mongia in match fixing, his being named by various sources and the fact that he is not able to explain his slow batting and passing of instructions to Manoj Prabhakar to preserve wickets rather than go for runs in the India-West Indies one-dayer in Kanpur in 1994 does bring him under strong suspicion.

Dr Ali Irani

CBI enquiry has disclosed that Dr Ali Irani, Physio of the Indian Team (between 1987 to 1997), acted as a conduit between Mohd. Azharuddin and the betting syndicate. Evidence has disclosed that Dr Ali Irani was collecting money on behalf of Azhar from MK and his associates and that he used to get a 'commission' from Azhar for this service. The evidence against Dr Irani is discussed below.

MK has stated that Azharuddin had introduced him to Dr Irani during the Ahmedabad Test against South Africa in 1996. Dr Ali Irani in his statement has admitted that he was introduced to MK, by Azharuddin but knew him only as 'John'.

MK has further stated that Azharuddin had directed him to make payments towards the matches he 'did' for MK through Dr Ali Irani. MK has also stated that on, some occasions, money to Azharuddin was paid through Dr Irani. Dr Irani has also admitted that he accepted money from MK and his 'representatives' on behalf of Azharuddin on a number of occasions and some of the transactions were to the tune of 10 to 15 lacs. This is also corroborated by the statement of Anil Steel that on two occasions, he had made payments to Ali Irani on behalf of MK. Dr Irani has also confessed that he used to get around Rs 25,000/- to 50,000/- on each occasion for rendering this service to Azharuddin. However, Azharuddin was silent about Dr Ali Irani during his examination.

Nikhil Chopra

He figured in the enquiry since his cell phone analysis has disclosed four calls to known Bookies/punters. However, the enquiry has not brought forth evidence to indicate his involvement in match fixing/betting.

Nikhil Chopra's cell phone analysis (15.9.99 to 15.4.2000) has disclosed two calls to Rajesh Kalra, one to Sanjeev Chawla and one to Rattan Mehta, all, well known punters of Delhi. Nikhil Chopra has denied making calls to Sanjeev Chawla and Rattan Mehta and has also stated that he does not know them. He has conceded that he knows Rajesh Kalra, whom he had met in the gym at Hotel Park Royal, but denied giving him any information about cricket matches. Rajesh Kalra has stated that he had once called up Nikhil Chopra during the one-dayer at Nagpur in March 2000 between India-South Africa to find out whether Chopra was playing or not. Ajay Sharma has said that Chopra once asked him whether he knew any bookies since his 'sala' (brother-in-law) was interested in betting.

The evidence against Nikhil Chopra only discloses that he may have spoken to some bookies/ punters. There is no evidence so far which discloses that he was into betting/match-fixing.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

His name has figured through information from a number of sources as a possible suspect in match fixing and related malpractices. However, the evidence against him which is discussed in detail, hereunder, is in the nature of 'hearsay'. There is no direct evidence against Sidhu to conclusively establish his role in match fixing.

MK has said that whenever Manoj Prabhakar 'fixed' a match for him, Prabhakar used to say that Sidhu was also with him. Ajay Sharma has also said that Sidhu was in league with Prabhakar and had in fact once showed him a bag containing a large amount of money, that Sidhu allegedly stated was 'Black Money' which he would show as his farm income.

Navjot Singh Sidhu has denied that he has ever been approached by any bookie or he has underperformed intentionally in any match. Manoj Prabhakar has not disclosed anything about Sidhu's involvement with him.

Delhi players

The enquiry has disclosed that Delhi players intentionally lost the Ranji Trophy Quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. This was basically done to facilitate the participation of some Delhi Players in league cricket in England, which would have clashed with further Ranji Trophy engagements. However, the conduct of Delhi players (other than Manoj Prabhakar) is more in the realm of unethical sporting behaviour and does not disclose any nexus with the betting syndicate. The evidence against Delhi players is discussed next.

Mukesh Kumar Gupta has stated that Manoj Prabhakar had 'sold' him the information that the Delhi team had decided to lose the Ranji Trophy Quarterfinal Match, 1991, against Bombay. Manoj Prabhakar has corroborated MK's statement and said that some of the Delhi players were contracted to play league cricket in England, which was clashing with further Ranji Trophy Matches and Delhi players had decided to lose the match against Bombay. Ajay Sharma has further corroborated MK's and Prabhakar's statement. Another member of that team, Maninder Singh, has also stated that the Delhi team was 'not serious' about winning that match. This has been further corroborated by Atul Wassan, who has however stated that there was no conscious decision to lose the match. Kirti Azad has stated that he was not aware of any such decision by the Delhi players. CBI has not examined other members of that Delhi side.

However, there is no evidence to indicate that any player other than Prabhakar received money from MK or anyone else for trading information regarding their decision to lose the match.

13) Kapil Dev

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