Scotland Yard questions
Sanjeev Chawla

The Rediff team

The elusive punter, Sanjeev Chawla had been arrested by the Scotland Yard from his home in Hendon in northern London last month. The arrest of Chawla, was a major development in the worldwide match-fixing imbroglio.

Speaking to rediff.com. a Scotland Yard press PRO said," Shortly after 0730 hours GMT on the 13th of December 2000, a 33-year-old man was arrested at his home in North London. Officers from the MET Serious Crime Group interviewed the man in Central London police station. He was subsequently released on bail and asked to report on the 31st of January 2001."

The Scotland Yard however refused to divulge any details about the bail amount or other relevant details stating that no charges had been leveled yet.

The inquiries launched into the match-fixing allegations have already scalped three former Test captains, Salim Malik (Pakistan), Mohammad Azharuddin (India), Hansie Cronje (South Africa) besides other players. Cronje's partner in crime, Chawla, a cloth businessman had been absconding ever since the Delhi police named him alongwith the former South African skipper, Hansie Cronje in April last year, of fixing cricket matches in India.

The officers claimed that the inquiry focussed mainly on the drawn third Test between England and New Zealand at Old Trafford in August 1999, also revealed the identities of two England players marked by Chawla. They are Alec Stewart and Alan Mullally - but the police stresses they have done nothing wrong and have never been under investigative scrutiny.

Serious Crime Group officers are now keen to confer with Cronje in their search for further information. 'From a witness point of view, Hansie Cronje could be very helpful to our inquiries,' said one Scotland Yard officer. 'There is a lot more to uncover yet.'

According to The Observer in UK, Scotland Yard inquiries have also taken in a number of Indian businessmen-cum-bookmakers, with Chawla, Kheterpal and Jagdish Sodha, a prominent figure in India's Bollywood film industry, high on their list. The newspaper has quoted a Scotland Yard officer adding: 'Sodha was with Kheterpal around the time of his meetings with Lewis and Fleming. Sodha and Khetrapal have been interviewed in Bombay and Delhi. Kheterpal runs a company in Delhi called Radiant Sports Management, which we believe, has done business with people and sports organisations in the UK.

Aushim Ketrapal, when contacted refused to comment on the revelations made by the Scotland Yard and stuck by what he had stated earlier in an interview to rediff.com.

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Mail Cricket Editor