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Delhi police to probe news report

Onkar Singh, in Delhi

Delhi police crime branch chief Pradeep Srivastav, who is heading the investigations in the Hansie Cronje case, has directed his team to look into a report that appeared in a leading national daily on Friday.

According to the report, flop actor Kishen Kumar, now in police custody for his alleged role in match-fixing, along with some bookies, had thrown a party in Bombay to hook Hansie Cronje just before the India-South Africa Test in India's commercial capital.

Srivastav told rediff.com that he had seen the report and is getting the same examined by his staff.

" We have seen the report, and instructions have already been issued to look into its contents to find out the veracity of the said party from the Bombay police," said Srivastav.

The report quoted Bombay police sources to authenticate the claim that such a party had indeed taken place. It gives explicit details of how the party was organised and who all were present.

Besides the bookies, a lady doctor was also reported to have attended the party. However, the report said, the whole purpose of the party was defeated when Cronje refused to agree to the terms offered to him by the hosts for fixing a match.

While senior police officers appear not too keen in following the case, those in the juniors ranks, however, feel that if the report is true then they could have a solid case against Kishen Kumar.

Indeed, they feel, the report could not have come at a better time as Kumar's bail petition is under active consideration by the Delhi High Court.

Meanwhile, Srivastav denied that a Delhi police team would be leaving for Johannesburg shortly to interrogate Cronje.

"We have never said that a team would be leaving for South Africa shortly," he clarified.

"At the moment, there is no chance of a team leaving for South Africa. So why discuss who is leaving and who is not," said another official of the Delhi police who is connected with the investigations.

In another related development, pressure is mounting on Manoj Prabahakar from an altogether different source. Prabhakar had alleged that Kapil Dev had offered him Rs 2.5 million to under perform in a match against Pakistan in the Singer Cup tournament in 1994. But while the CBI is investigating the allegation, the former India allrounder's conduct too is under a cloud as it is believed that he has a number of cases pending against him in Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh Mehrotra, superintendent of Police, Nainital, had confirmed to rediff.com sometime back that at least two cases are pending against Prabhakar in his district. According to media reports from Haldwani, Prabhakar and his partners are alleged to have duped investors to the tune of Rs 50 crore through various finance companies they had floated a decade ago. These companies had promised that they would return 10 times the money invested in less than 10 years.

Initially, it was reported that noted Congress leader N D Tewari had patronised Prabhakar and Divya Nautiyal. However, Tewari's office in Delhi promptly issued a denial. "Tewariji has nothing to do with any such finance company floated by Prabhakar," said an aide of his in Delhi.

Though Prabhakar has not denied the reports and maintained a stoic silence on it, his wife did say that her husband did not have any links with the alleged finance companies.

Prabhakar's advocate Nidesh Gupta could not be contacted for his reaction as he is out of town and expected to return to Delhi only on Monday.