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CBI got tough with Sidhu, Mongia?

Onkar Singh, in Delhi

The CBI heat turned well and truly on Nayan Mongia and Navjot Singh Sidhu, and word doing the rounds in cricket and investigative circles in Delhi is that both cricketers found the going tough.

Sources indicate that CBI sleuths bore down hard on the two, who were grilled separately.

Much of the questioning related to what they had told Manoj Prabhakar on the latter's clandestinely taped interview.

While Sidhu left the CBI offices on his own, Mongia had to be dropped by the sleuths to Nizamuddin Railway station.

Sidhu refused comment, merely saying, "Kindly ask the CBI," when contacted on the phone.

CBI sources discounted rumours doing the rounds that both players were man-handled in course of the intensive interrogation.

"This is a totally false, baseless and mischievous allegation," said official spokesman S M Khan, reacting to the rumours.

Mongia was picked up from New Delhi railway station yesterday, at his own request. After a 90-minute interrogation, he was dropped off at Nizamuddin station from where, since the India player didn't have confirmed reservations, he travelled in an unreserved second class compartment back home to Baroda.

The pace of investigation in the match-fixing case meanwhile has escalated, thanks to the fact that the Indian team has no international commitments at this point. Thus, most players are available to give evidence. Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Prashant Vaidya and Kapil Dev are all scheduled to be examined in the next few days.

In the absence of Joint Director R N Savani, now on leave, the probe is being headed by DIG Y P Singh.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the CBI has asked ICC chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya to appear before it and explain his involvement or lack thereof in the television rights scam, as alleged by former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra in his 360-page testimony given to the CBI. BCCI president A C Muthaiah, and honorary secretary Jaywant Lele, are also expected to appear before the CBI and explain statements they had made in videotapes submitted by Manoj Prabhakar to the investigating agency.

The Betting Scandal: The full story