Response to allegations made against Ajay Jadeja in the CBI Report on match-fixing and related malpractices in cricket.

I am making this statement in response to and to counter the allegations made against me in the CBI Report on Match Fixing on 1st November 2000.

I have read the report over the past two days and wish to emphatically refute the allegations made against me in it. The verdict that has been passed against me in the Report is unfair and premised o evidence that is false and concocted.

At the veryoutset I would like to state as I have consistently done whenever questions relating to match-fixing were posed to me that,
· At no time in my career have I been involved with match fixing as defined in the CBI report.
· At no time have I ever accepted money or any other form of consideration for underperforming in a cricket match, whether at domestic, international or any other level.
· At all times when I have had the the privilege of representing any country, state Board, I have played the game to the very best of my ability and skill.

I now examine the details of the report and my responses thereof.

EXAMINATION OF CBI'S ANALYSIS OF THE POSITION WITH RESPECT TO MYSELF

1. MY SUPPOSED RELATIONSHIP WITH BOOKIES

I would like to begin with my supposed close relations with bookies/punters as alledged in page 114 of the CBI Report. The report says:

"Ajay Jadeja has close reactions with Rajesh Kalra, Rattan Mehta, Uttam Chand, Kishan 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."

I will first state that I do acknowledge that I know, to varying degrees. Some of the persons mentioned in the paragraph above and that I have truthfully stated this during any questioning by the CBI. However, I wish to clearly state that I have at no time been aware of their involvement with betting and match fixing, and have never received any money from them, in relation to match-fixing or for any other purpose.

I now examine the comments of the Report in respect of each of these supposed relationships with the persons mentioned in the paragraph above:

1 Rajesh Kalra

Rajesh Kalra's statement in the CBI Report (page 51) states as follows:

"He personally knew Ajay Jadeja, Nikhil Chopra and Manoj Prabhakar whom he got introduced to during visits to the gym at Hotel Park Royal and also at the Sports Club at Siri Fort."

As I have already stated to the CBI(page 76), I do know Kalra from occasional meetings at the Siri Fort Sports Complex and the gym at the Park Royal. As he says in his statement (pages 51-52), he has only contacted me on the phone on a couple of occasions. The only conversation I remember having with him on the telephone is once when he called me to ask if I was coming tot he Gym,as he wanted me to give his cousin nephew an autograph. I gave the CBI the details of this conversation and an officer of the CBI had indicated to me during the time that I was examined by them that they had a recording of this conversation and therefore were already aware of its details.

It is common knowledge that the Police have the transcripts of various conversations between a number of persons (including Rajesh Kalra) they ahd under investigation, which culminated in the unearthing of the Hansie Cronje scandal. I would request the CBI or the police to make public the recordings of Rajesh kalra's conversations with me, as they would undoubtedly reveal the contents of the telephonic conversations I am said to have had with kalra during the same period. Through this it will be proved that my relationship with Kalra was completely above board.

In my statement to the CBI (accepted by the CBI in their analysis on page 115) I denied that I ever discussed cricket with him or passed any information about cricket matches with him.

I would like to point out here that the terminology in relation to "discussions on cricket" must be clarified. Since the days when I began to play cricket, particularly for the country, I have not met anyone who did not want to discuss cricket with me including all you in this room. However, a distinction must be made in relation to a general chat about cricket that any two individuals in this country with some knowledge of cricket might haveand a discussion about cricket knowingly with the intention of passing on information to make money. I have had no discussions about cricket with of the latter kind with anyone ever.

Beyond this I have had no contact of any kind with Rajesh kalra and had no knowledge that Rajesh Kalra was involved with the betting or match fixing and have never received any money from him whether for match fixing or otherwise.

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