CBI, Dhindsa in cat and mouse
game over match-fixing report

Onkar Singh in Delhi

Union Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation continued to play a cat and mouse game on the match-fixing report.

"The CBI asked me on Friday morning if it could hand over the report to me. I told them that I would be in Chandigarh and would return on Monday morning. I will attend a cabinet meeting in the morning and meet CBI director R K Raghavan in the afternoon.''

"I will take at least a day to comment on the 175-page report," Dhindsa told rediff.com over the telephone from Chandigarh on Friday afternoon.

He denied that he and the CBI were deliberately playing a cat and mouse game and amusing themselves at the cost of cricket fans waiting to know the contents of the report prepared by the CBI following a four-month investigation.

"I am as interested in knowing its contents as cricket lovers all over the country. It is just a matter of time. The CBI director and I cannot get time together. By Monday, the report will be finally handed over to the government," said Dhindsa.

Earlier there was speculation that the agency would submit the report by September-end, but it was delayed as Dhindsa was busy with his son's election campaign. Then, the minister went off to Los Angeles for a conference on mining. When he returned, the CBI director and joint director were abroad on assignment.

CBI sources refused to confirm the authenticity of media reports.

"This is all in the realm of speculation. We cannot tell you anything concrete till we get a confirmation from higher-ups about the release of the report," said an official in the public relations department.

Mail Cricket Editor