Shastri deposes before CBI

Former India skipper Ravi Shastri, the lone person to corroborate Manoj Prabhakar's charge of Kapil Dev's alleged bribery offer, recorded his statement with the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing match-fixing allegations, on Monday.

CBI sources said he was questioned for nearly an hour.

His deposition was necessary as he had corroborated Prabhakar's claim that he was briefed about cricketing icon Kapil Dev's alleged offer of Rs 2.5 million to under perform in a one-dayer against Pakistan during a 1994 triangular series in Sri Lanka.

Kapil Dev has denied Prabhakar's allegations.

The sources said Shastri was also asked whether he had any information about match-fixing in cricket and about his reported comments on a web site about the functioning of BCCI.

CBI has so far recorded statements of 15 cricket-related persons including BCCI president A C Muthiah, secretary Jaywant Lele, treasurer Kishore Rungta, Delhi Cricket Association secretary Sunil Dev, former BCCI chief I S Bindra, former team manager Ajit Wadekar, cricketers Manoj Prabhakar, Mohammad Azharudin, Navjot Sidhu, Nayan Mongia, Ajay Jadeja, Prashant Vadiya and Nikhil Chopra besides some bookies including Mukesh Gupta.

Rungta, Sidhu and Wadekar have been examined twice while Prabhakar had thrice deposed before the CBI.

Mail Cricket Editor