Prabhakar declared 'proclaimed offender'

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The Uttaranchal police has decided to declare former India Test cricketer Manoj Prabhakar a "proclaimed offender".

Prabhakar is allegedly wanted in cases of "cheating and criminal breach of trust". The cases are lodged in Haldwani town of Nainital district, by depositors of Apace Leasing and Finance Company, which did the vanishing trick like many finance companies across the country.

Uttranchal Director General of Police A K Sharan told rediff.com, "The cricketer has been eluding arrest for three weeks, when a non-bailable warrant was issued against him."

He said, "If Prabhakar had appeared before the Haldwani court or surrendered before the police, it would have been fine, but under the circumstances we are left with no choice but to declare him a proclaimed offender."

Sharan explained, "It will mean that now Prabhakar can get arrested on sight anywhere in the country."

Registered under Sections 420 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code, the cases accuse Prabhakar of defrauding people to the tune of millions of rupees.

Prabhakar was managing director of Apace Leasing and Finance Company, which is alleged to have duped hundreds of depositors.

Apace was, however, among few companies which got a clean chit, in January 2000, from the Reserve Bank of India, to continue with para-banking. However, within a few months, a writ petition was moved against the company before the high court, which ordered sealing of all its offices. Since then, depositors have been trying to get their dues, only to receive a convenient alibi: "The court has ordered sealing of all our offices, so how do we process your applications for refunds?"

Bhavna and Lal Chand, both depositors, got a similar reply from the company's office in Haldwani, where they had deposited their savings. When they got the same reply from the Lucknow headquarters, they lodged a criminal case with the police.

In their FIRs, the two spelt out how they were lured into investing with the company, because of Manoj Prabhakar's name.

"It was the famous cricketer's name that added so much credibility to the company and led us into depositing our money," said another depositor, who attended a couple of Apace-organised functions, where Prabhakar was chief guest.

The cricketer's supporters, however, blame it entirely on his working partner Divya Nautiyal.

"Nautiyal's involvement with cricket afforded him enough opportunities to cultivate Prabhakar, and it was only to use his name that Nautiyal urged the cricketer to accept the position of managing director in his company," a supporter pointed out.

He went on to plead: "Prabhakar's only fault is that he failed to see through Nautiyal's design and allowed himself to become a party of every shady deal of the company."

According to him, "Prabhakar had no idea of fraud being played by Apace, otherwise he would have maintained a distance from such an organisation."

But with ignorance of law being no excuse, the man who gave sleepless nights to cricket icon Kapil Dev now seems to be in the dock himself.

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