'No need to talk to Kapil', says Madhavan
Onkar Singh in New Delhi
K Madhavan, former joint director of the CBI and now functioning as anti-corruption supercop for the BCCI, has decided against summoning Kapil Dev to explain charges levelled against him by Manoj Prabhakar.
While Madhavan contented himself with a bland statement to the effect that he would not be talking to the star all-rounder, sources within the BCCI said that since the CBI report had cleared Kapil Dev of all charges, Madhavan felt there was no need for him to conduct his own interrogation of the former India star.
Madhavan however confirmed that his report would be ready well before the November 25 deadline.
Meanwhile, the BCCI's supercop had an unexpected visitor -- Sri Lankan commissioner Desmond Fernando, tasked to look into charges of match-fixing against Aravinda D'Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga. "He is a noted advocate, and he was with me for more than an hour. We discussed the matter, I told him what I could, and he went away satisfied," Madhavan said, of the meeting.
CBI joint director R N Sawani however indicated that Fernando has not yet sought a meeting with either him, or with any of his juniors who were involved in the probe.
On an unrelated front, former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur had a meeting with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, to appraise him of the latest development vis a vis the Pakistan Cricket Board's reaction to the cancellation of a projected tour by India of that country.
"I managed to strike the right chord, and I am hopeful that the government will reverse its decision and permit India to tour Pakistan," Dungarpur said. Interestingly, however, sources close to Minister for Sports Uma Bharti said that when BCCI officials attempted to try and convince her to let the tour go ahead on schedule, the minister snubbed them and indicated there wouldn't be a rethink.
“I recently met Pakistan Cricket Board president Gen
Tauqir Zia," Dungarpur elaborated. "They, the Pakistan board, want India to tour. I then met Jaswant Singh and conveyed to him the sentiments of the people in this connection, now the ball is in the government's court and I am optimistic we will get a positive response," the former BCCI president added.
Once he noticed, however, that I was taping the conversation, he turned away, summoned his car, and drove away in a huff.
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