Five Indian cricketers face stiff punishment for fudging taxes

Five Indian cricketers, including ex-skipper Kapil Dev, have huge amounts of undeclared income and could face stiff penal action, the Indian Express daily said Thursday. The daily, quoting income tax sources, said the players had been sent notices about two weeks ago to declare their earnings over the past 10 years.

It said cricket legend Kapil Dev, whose named cropped up in a match-fixing probe, had more than 25 million rupees (532,000 dollars) in undeclared earnings. Kapil was cleared in an official probe last month.

Players Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar, who were declared guilty by federal investigators of consorting with bookies, were also found to have concealed their incomes. Jadeja had hidden earnings of 23 million rupees, Prabhakar had 25 million rupees in concealed wealth while Sharma's undeclared money was put at around seven million rupees.

Another player, Nikhil Chopra, had hidden wealth to the tune of five million rupees. "The cricketers have been given a month to submit details of their undeclared income and will be liable to pay 60 percent of the amount in taxes," the newspaper said.

"However, if they fail to admit to the concealment at this late stage, they will have to cough up penalties up to 300 percent and face prosecution ... even the sceptre of imprisonment for a period between six months to seven years."

Mail Cricket Editor