Cricketers make beeline for VDIS, taxman alerts BCCI

Participating in a half-hour discussion on the hawala scandal in the prime-time programme, Gupta said while information received under the VDIS scheme was confidential, he could furnish the information to the Government if there was reason to believe that the money earned was through illegal means.

In another interview later in the week, former cricketer Manoj Prabhakar said the disclosure came as no surprise to him as he had been raising this issue for quite some time and had suffered for speaking out.

Prabhakar’s international career had come to an end when he threw a bombshell saying that he was offered money by an India team-mate during an overs-limit series in Sri Lanka to bowl badly. It was a sensational news which opened a can of worms, bringing into sharp focus the ugly face of betting and match-fixing and the alleged links of cricketers with the underworld mafia. Such was the hue and cry that the BCCI appointed an enquiry under retired Chief Justice of India, Y V Chandrachud. Several past and present cricketers, managers and journalists deposed before the retired justice, who finally came to the conclusion there was no evidence to prove that cricketers were taking money to play fix matches.

Prabhakar, who was among those who deposed before the ex-CJ, was at his vociferous best again during the Zee TV interview on Monday. He reiterated that he had informed the then team management that an attempt was being made to bribe him. But Prabhakar alleged that the official had not taken him seriously which made him believe that he (the official) was also part of the whole deal.

The news of the staggering VDIS disclosure by the unnamed former India skipper is bound to raise the clamour for Income Tax authorities to go into the wealth of some leading India cricketers.